Status of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics: SADC region

Transcription

1 United Nations Statistics Division Demographic Statistics CRVS Technical Report Series, Vol. 2 June, 2010 Status of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics: SADC region

2 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division ESA/STAT/2010/10 20 June 2010 English Only Status of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in the SADC Region * Technical Report * This document is being reproduced without formal editing. All inquires should be directed to demostat@un.org ii

3 The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environmental data and information on which States Members of the United Nations draw to review common problems and to take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises interested Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks developed in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities. NOTE The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this technical report do not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. The term country as used in the text of this report also refers, as appropriate, to territories or areas. This report has been issued without formal editing. iii

4 Preface 1. The Technical Report on the Status of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in SADC Region is prepared broadly under the Development Account Project Strengthening statistical capacity-building in support of progress towards the International Agreed Development Goals in the Southern African Development Community region ( ). The project aimed to strengthen the capacity of countries and relevant regional institutions in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, in the production and analysis, on a regular basis, of benchmark statistics. Those statistics are required for national development planning and for the monitoring of the progress of internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals. Improving vital statistics in SADC region was one of the priorities of the Project. 2. In recent years, there has been a growing acknowledgement by national governments on the importance of well-functioning civil registration and vital statistics systems, for administrative and legal purposes, as well as for the generation of reliable and timely registration-based vital statistics to monitor and evaluate development programmes. As a result, strengthening national capacity to generate vital statistics from a reliable civil registration system has become important to many countries. To assist countries building the capacity, the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), in collaboration with the SADC Secretariat, conducted a Workshop on the Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in SADC Region in Blantyre, Malawi, from 1 to 5 December A follow-up workshop was conducted six months later in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania, from 29 June to 3 July 2009, covering 40 countries in Africa as well as a number of regional and international organisations In addition to training workshops, it is also important for sustained capacity building to have solid understanding on to what extent the system of civil registration and vital statistics in a country has developed and identify areas that need further improvement. However up-to-date and systematic assessment of country status in the area of civil registration and vital statistics is scarce. The last systematic assessment conducted by the United Nations is available in the Handbook of Vital Statistics Systems and Methods, Volume II, Review of National Practices, published in Although more recent assessment of country practices was available through a series of technical papers published by the International Institute for Vital Registration and Statistics (IIVRS) between the late 1970s and 2000, these assessments were not always systematic and more 1 The workshop documents are available online at 2 The report of the Dar es Salaam workshop was prepared by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. iv

5 importantly, the institution dissolved in early This report partially fills this gap. 4. This report is an important step towards better understanding of country practices and difficulties and challenges in maintaining the civil registration system and in collecting and compiling vital statistics. The report can help countries in the African region to share experiences while in the process of improving their civil registration and vital statistics system. 5. A similar report was prepared in 2009 for member countries under the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Africa (UNESCWA). Furthermore, the United Nations Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Knowledgebase 3, launched by the United Nations Statistics Division in May 2009, is also a useful platform for sharing country experiences. Organisation of the report 6. The report on status of civil registration and vital statistics systems in SADC region covers thirteen out of fifteen member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), namely Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe The report consists of two parts. Part I has six sections and provides a crosscountry overview of civil registration and vital statistics systems. The first section reviews cross-country similarities and differences in the organizational and administrative arrangements of the national systems for the registration of vital events. The next section discusses the organizational and administrative arrangements of national systems of vital statistics. The third section reviews the status of civil registration and vital statistics in each country using a single index the measurement of completeness with which births and deaths are registered. The fourth section looks into the use of complimentary data sources across countries - censuses and sample surveys for vital statistics. The fifth section provides some indication of the capacity of countries in the region to report their national vital statistics to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook system. The last section of Part I features summary and conclusions pointing out the issues that emerged from the review of country practices and that needed attention at both national and international level. 3 Available online at 4 Angola and Seychelles are not covered in the report because they did not participate in the United Nations Workshop on Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in the SADC Region in December 2008, nor did they provide any information to the Workshop. v

6 8. Part II of the report comprises individual country profiles, offering an insight on various aspects of the civil registration system, such as the legal framework, organization of the civil registration system, technical aspects of the system, completeness of the system and challenges faced. Each country profile also shows the organizational structure of the vital statistics system, including (1) the authority that collects, compiles and disseminates vital statistics, (2) data availability at country level and (3) the use of population censuses and sample surveys that collect data to measure fertility and mortality. Furthermore, each country profile includes the availability of vital statistics, reported by the countries to the UNSD through the Demographic Yearbook questionnaires The country profiles intend to follow, as much as possible, the same structure for each country. This was not always possible, however, due to the fact the volume of information available for each country was different. Sources of information 10. The main sources of information used in the report were the proceedings of the United Nations Workshop on Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in SADC Region, held in Blantyre, Malawi, 1-5 December 2008, including pre-workshop questionnaires completed by countries participants, the country presentations and status reports as well as the exchange of information between UNSD and country representatives during the 4-day Workshop Other sources used include technical reports, publications and websites on civil registration and vital statistics published by national civil registration authorities and national statistical offices. These sources are footnoted when appropriate. Information on the availability of national vital statistics is obtained from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook data collection system. More information may be available than have been compiled in this report. Some countries may have information that has not been effectively disseminated at the regional and global levels. Consequently such information was not available at the time of the finalisation of the report. 5 The United Nations Statistics Division collects, processes and disseminates population and vital statistics, through the Demographic Yearbook, for more than 230 countries and areas in the world. 6 The questionnaires sent to countries are available in Annex 1 and Annex 2. The questionnaire as well as country reports and presentations are also available online at nts.htm. vi

7 Contents Overview... 1 A. Vital statistics system and uses of vital statistics... 1 B. Sources of vital statistics... 1 Part I. Summary of national civil registration and vital statistics systems in the SADC region... 3 A. Organisation of civil registration systems... 3 B. Organization of vital statistics systems... 6 C. Status of civil registration and vital statistics... 6 D. Use of censuses and sample surveys for vital statistics... 9 E. Availability of vital statistics based on the Demographic Yearbook reporting F. Summary and conclusions Part II. Country profiles Botswana Democratic Republic of Congo Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia South Africa Swaziland United Republic of Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe Annex 1. Pre-workshop assignments for civil registrars Pre-workshop assignment 1 Review and assessment of the national civil registration system Pre-workshop assignment Annex 2. Pre-workshop assignments for statisticians Pre-workshop assignment 1 - Review of sources and methods for vital statistics Pre-workshop assignment Annex 3. Organization of civil registration and vital statistics systems Annex 4. Data reported to Demographic Yearbook vital statistics tables for the period of ; among those that reported, latest available year Annex 5. Vital events registration forms used in various countries Lesotho Mauritius Namibia Namibia South Africa United Republic of Tanzania vii

8 Tables Table 1. Administration responsible for civil registration system in each country... 4 Table 2. Estimated completeness of births and deaths registration, methods of assessment and year of latest assessment... 7 Table 3. Fertility and mortality topics included in most recent population censuses Table 4. Most recent demographic/health surveys conducted in the country and main regional/international agencies involved Table 5. Number of vital statistics tables available in the Demographic Yearbook database Table 6. Vital statistics available from population censuses conducted in Figures Figure 1. Birth registration coverage (per cent) in SADC region... 7 Figure 2. Number of vital statistics tables available in the Demographic Yearbook database viii

9 Overview A. Vital statistics system and uses of vital statistics 12. A vital statistics system is defined as the total process of (a) collecting information by civil registration or enumeration on the frequency of occurrence of specified and defined vital events, as well as relevant characteristics of the events themselves and of the person or persons concerned, and (b) compiling, processing, analysing, evaluating, presenting and disseminating these data in statistical form. The vital events of interest are: live births, adoptions, legitimations, recognitions; deaths and foetal deaths; and marriages, divorces, separations and annulments of marriage Vital statistics are an essential input for the planning of human development. Knowledge of the size and characteristics of a country s population on a timely manner is a prerequisite to socioeconomic planning. For example, information about the number of live births and deaths occurring in a population is crucial for estimating the natural increase (or decrease) and the annual change in population size and structure of the population. Information on the number of live births occurring over a period of time, classified by various characteristics of the women giving birth, constitutes the basis for analysis of the dynamics of reproduction. Information on deaths, classified by various characteristics of the deceased, especially age and sex, is necessary for calculating life-tables and estimating the probability of dying at various ages. Vital statistics on the occurrence of marriages, divorces, annulments and judicial separations allow analysis of nuptiality, family formation and dissolution. 8 B. Sources of vital statistics 14. The main source of vital statistics is records of vital events from civil registration, which involves the continuous gathering of information on all relevant vital events occurring within the boundaries of a country. Additional sources include specific questions on fertility and mortality added to population censuses, household sample surveys, vital records from sample registration and health records. 15. The recommended source for vital statistics is the civil registration, the continuous, permanent, compulsory and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events pertaining to the population as provided through decree or regulation in accordance with the legal requirements of each 7 Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Revision 2, United Nations, New York, 2001, para Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Revision 2, United Nations, New York, 2001, paras

10 country. For countries that do not have complete coverage from the civil registration, other data sources are also used to complement the civil registration. 2

11 Part I. Summary of national civil registration and vital statistics systems in the SADC region A. Organisation of civil registration systems 16. A national registration system may be centralized or decentralized. A centralized administration of civil registration usually has an agency for directing, coordinating and monitoring the nationwide civil registration work. An office with such duties can promote national standards and uniform registration of all vital events occurring within the country and among various groups of the population. Under this type of central arrangement, the national registration agency plays not only an administrative role but also a technical one over the network of subnational and local civil registration offices. It establishes all local registration offices, provides written materials to local registrars to guide their daily work, coordinates the registration procedures throughout the system, and supervises and evaluates the registration work of the local offices In a decentralized administration, civil registration can be administered at the level of the major civil divisions, such as the state, province or department. In the capital city of each major division, an authority for civil registration is established to direct and monitor the civil registration work of the major division. Many countries with a federated political system, a large territory or a large population may adopt a decentralized administration for civil registration. 10 However not all countries having a decentralized administration for civil registration have adopted uniform legal provisions and procedures for civil registration. Many such countries have made provisions to outline a model law and its regulations so that each major civil division may promulgate its own laws and regulations on the basis of the model. In a decentralised administration of civil registration, there needs to be an agency at the national level to enforce and standardize the work of civil registration and vital statistics All of the 13 countries 12 in the report have a centralized civil registration system, i.e., the legal responsibility for civil registration in these countries is assumed by ministries such as the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Justice or Ministry of Local Government at national level. Some 9 Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System: Management, Operation and Maintenance, United Nations, New York, 1998, Paras Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System: Management, Operation and Maintenance, United Nations, New York, 1998, Para Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System: Management, Operation and Maintenance, United Nations, New York, 1998, Paras For the United Republic of Tanzania, the mainland and Zanzibar are discussed separately in the text to reflect the difference in their administrative structures related to the registration of vital events. 3

12 countries have the registration responsibility under the Office of President (or Prime Minister). (Table 1) Detailed information on the agencies that are in charge of the civil registration system is given in Annex 3. Table 1. Administration responsible for civil registration system in each country Vital events Births, deaths and marriages Divorces Administration responsible for the registration of vital events Ministry of Home Affairs Ministry of Justice Office of President Ministry of Local Government Botswana Mozambique Malawi Lesotho Democratic Republic United Republic of Mauritius of Congo Tanzania Madagascar Namibia South Africa Swaziland Zambia Zimbabwe Botswana Democratic Republic of Congo Namibia Swaziland Zambia Zimbabwe Lesotho (for marriages also) Madagascar Mauritius Mozambique South Africa United Republic of Tanzania Malawi 19. One major challenge that most countries in the SADC region face is the lack of clarity in the area of responsibilities of different agencies involved in the civil registration process. For example, in the Birth and Death Registration Act of Botswana, the duty of District Registrar was specified as to inform himself as far as possible of every birth, still-birth or death which occurs within his district. There is however no description in the Act about appointments and duties of local registrars, including the use of hospitals and health as local registration points in the country. 20. In addition, coordination mechanism among different agencies is often not clearly stated in the civil registration law. Descriptions on how information on the registered vital events should be transferred to either upper-level administrative offices or to a different agency are mostly missing from the law. 21. Even when there are specifications in the civil registration law on the transfer of information and coordination, such as in Madagascar and Mozambique, the law is often not strictly followed by the executing agencies. For example, in Madagascar, the statistical summary table on vital events is required to be submitted to the national statistical office every five years. But this is rarely followed. While in Mozambique, local registration offices are required to submit 4

13 vital records to district level registration office and then to the Directorate of Registries and Notary. This requirement is not strictly followed either. 22. As to the organisational structure, many countries in the region, such as Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, South African and the United Republic of Tanzania, have two ministries administering the registration of basic vital events. In most cases one ministry is in charge of the registration of live births, deaths and marriages while another one on the registration of divorces. This should not be an issue if delineation of responsibility is clear for each administrative agencies and the work of every agencies is well coordinated. However given the fact that for most countries in the region coordination is not functioning well and assigning the registration tasks to two different ministries adds additional challenges to the civil registration process. It has been pointed out by some countries during the Malawi workshop that coordination between the national statistical office and the Ministry of Justice is extremely challenging for many of the countries in the region. As a result, the availability of divorce statistics is scarce. 23. Another challenge associated with the organisational structure in some countries in the region is the involvement of health sectors at local level for the registration of live births and deaths. For countries like Botswana, Madagascar, South Africa and Zimbabwe, hospitals and community health centres are used as local registration units, in addition to the network of local government offices. Generally speaking, this arrangement offers numerous benefits. For example, it minimizes costs by using existing local institutions (hospitals and health centres in this case) to carry out registration functions. The population is familiar with the local registration units, which may also promote complete registration coverage since access to registration services is convenient. However, without the Registrar General having direct administrative power over the registration function at health centres and hospitals, the coverage and quality of the registration could be a problem For some countries in the region such as Lesotho, decentralisation of the registration function 14, i.e., enabling registration at either district or local administrative level has greatly facilitated the registration of vital events. In Lesotho the function of civil registration was recently transferred to the Ministry 13 The use of a local agency which is responsible for other services may put registration in a position of low priority. In addition, when registrars are performing their duties on an honorary basis or as part of a series of other responsibilities, deficiencies can result. - Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System: Management, Operation and Maintenance, United Nations, New York, 1998, Para Decentralisation here refers to the movement allowing registration at local level, which is different from the decentralised civil registration system mentioned in Paragraph 16. The latter refers to the civil registration system that is administered at the level of the major civil divisions. 5

14 of Local Government. The challenge associated with this move is that, although the registration function is decentralised, the basic service such as issuing a birth or death certificate is still undertaken by the Registrar General, which might prevent people who live far away from the Registrar General from registering. B. Organization of vital statistics systems 25. All thirteen countries covered here adopt a centralized vital statistics system, administered by National Statistics Offices. At the time of the report was prepared (2009), only Botswana, Mauritius and South Africa had a vital statistics system compiling data from three sources civil registration, population censuses and sample surveys. The remaining ten countries in the SADC region rely solely on population censuses and sample surveys to generate basic vital statistics. Detailed information on the agencies responsible for the civil registration and vital statistics system in each country is given in Annex 3. Organization of civil registration and vital statistics systems. 26. One apparent reason for the lack of vital statistics from the civil registration system is the unreliable registration system. However even for countries with moderate coverage such as Namibia (75% coverage for birth registration and 70% for death registration) and the United Republic of Tanzania, Zanzibar (90% for birth registration), no statistics is available from their civil registration systems. Therefore the major challenge is how to link the civil registration and vital statistics system so vital statistics are generated from records of vital events. C. Status of civil registration and vital statistics 27. The evaluation of the present state of development of the civil registration and vital statistics systems involved the assessment of various aspects of the registration and statistical process, such as adequacy of the registration laws and regulations; promptness and completeness of registration; efficiency of services in providing certification of vital events; quality of data; adequacy and usefulness of data produced; timeliness in the issuance of data, etc. Of these, perhaps the most useful single index of status is the measure of completeness of registered vital events. 28. On the questionnaires sent to each country in November 2008 to prepare for the workshop, questions were asked of both civil registrars and statisticians on the percentage of the completeness of civil registration and vital statistics. (Annex 1 and Annex 2) When such information was not available from the questionnaire, discussions during the workshop provided some insights. 29. The completeness of birth and death registration as reported by the countries as well as the methods used for assessment are shown in Table 2. Note that this 6

15 section focuses on the registration of births and deaths for two reasons: (1) coverage of marriages and divorces is not available for most of the countries and (2) the coverage indicator of marriage and divorce registration is less meaningful for the purpose of comparing data across countries because statistics related to marriages and divorces are often not truly comparable due to cultural variations. 30. Of the 13 countries, Mauritius has complete birth and death registration (> 90%) and the United Republic of Tanzania, Zanzibar has complete birth registration. Namibia and South Africa have relatively higher coverage of birth and death registration compare to other countries in the region. (Figure 1 and Table 2) Figure 1. Birth registration coverage (per cent) in SADC region Botswana Democratic Republic of Congo Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia South Africa Swaziland United Republic of Tanzania, Mainland United Republic of Tanzania, Zanzibar Zambia Zimbabwe It may be observed from Table 2 that for many countries the coverage of death registration is not available. The reason is that birth coverage information for those countries was available only through the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) or the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), where a question was asked on whether the birth of a child under-five years of age was registered at the time of the interview. None of the two household surveys assesses the coverage of death registration. Table 2. Estimated completeness of births and deaths registration, methods of assessment and year of latest assessment Country Percentage of registration completeness Assessment methods Births Deaths Botswana 58% MICS 2000 (for the period of ) Year of latest assessment

16 Democratic 31% DHS Republic of Congo Lesotho 29% DHS Madagascar 75% 82% for urban 72% for rural MICS Malawi Civil registration not mandatory in the country Mauritius >90% >90% Comparing civil registration with census data Mozambique 57% for the city of Maputo 2007 population census, with a question asking about the registration of births Namibia 75% 71% 2001 population census, with questions on the registration of births and deaths South Africa 86% 83% Comparing with sample survey results (for birth coverage) Preston-hill method (for death coverage) (for birth) 2006 (for death) Swaziland 54% MICS United Republic 20% (total area) Tanzania of Tanzania, Mainland 46% (urban) 15% (rural) HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey United Republic 90% 50% Dual-records system 1996 of Tanzania, Zanzibar Zambia 10% One survey on birth registration Zimbabwe 74% DHS Note: : no information MICS: Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (administered by UNICEF) DHS: Demographic and Health Survey (administered by Macro International) 32. In addition to the civil registration coverage, capacity to evaluate the quality of civil registration information and register-based vital statistics using either the direct or indirect methods is also important. 15 Out of the 13 countries, 6 indicated that they use specific assessment methods such as a dual record system or by asking questions in population censuses and sample surveys. 16 The rest have not made any assessment on their civil registration system and rely solely on outside sources such as the MICS and DHS. 15 Information on the evaluation of civil registration information and register-based vital statistics is available in the Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Rev. 2, United Nations, New York, Chapter V. 16 The six countries and areas include Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zanzibar and Zambia. 8

17 33. One important note to make regarding Table 2 is that the percentages refer to the coverage of birth and death registration, rather than the coverage of birth and death statistics obtained from the registration system. For some countries, the coverage of civil registration and that of vital statistics are the same, such as in Mauritius and South Africa. For both countries, information registered is transferred to the National Statistics Office and vital statistics are compiled. For the other countries, this is not the case. For example, in Namibia, the coverage for birth and death registration is around 75% and 70%, respectively. But there is no vital statistics compiled from its civil registration system. D. Use of censuses and sample surveys for vital statistics 34. Complete civil registration system was essential for the use of vital records for statistical purposes. For this, it would be ideal to have a nationwide count of 100 per cent of the vital events occurring in a country, and complete coverage for all the important variables. However, to achieve complete country-wide population coverage is not immediately possible in many countries. Because of this, many countries are resorting to sample demographic surveys and various other methods for the estimation of birth and death rates. Even with complete country-wide civil registration coverage, population censuses and sample surveys are also used to evaluate civil registration data or to gather information on demographic or epidemiological processes in a way that enhances the information obtained through civil registration. 35. Population censuses and sample surveys are the most important and prevalent sources for vital statistics in the SADC region. In fact, for many countries in the region, censuses and sample surveys are the only sources for vital statistics. (1) Population censuses as sources of data 36. Out of the 13 countries covered in the report, the Democratic Republic of Congo has not conducted any census for a long time. The latest census conducted in Madagascar was in 1993, almost 20 years ago. The other countries in the region have conducted censuses in recent years, among which seven countries with their latest one in the 2000 round ( ) and four in the 2010 round ( ). All of the countries in the region, except for Mauritius, have extensive questions on fertility and mortality in the latest census. Only questions on fertility and nuptiality are included in the latest Mauritius census conducted in Common questions covered by the census enumeration form included children ever-born and living, births in the last 12 months and their survival, 9

18 household deaths in the last 12 months as well as maternal and paternal orphanhood. (Table 3) Table 3. Fertility and mortality topics included in most recent population censuses Country, most recent census year Children ever Birth in the last born and living 12 months and survival Last birth and survival Household deaths in the last 12 months Maternal/pater nal orphanhood Botswana, 2001 X X X Democratic Republic No census of Congo Lesotho, 2006 X X X Madagascar, 1993 X Malawi, 2008 X X X Mauritius, 2000 X (only on children born alive) Mozambique, 2007 X X X Namibia, 2001 X X X (occurred within last 4 years) South Africa, 2001 X X X Swaziland, 2007 X X X United Republic of X X X X Tanzania, 2002 Zambia, 2000 X X Zimbabwe, 2002 X X X 38. Other questions asked by some countries in the region include whether the death occurred in the household was pregnancy-related, age of mother at first birth, duration of marriage and the survival of siblings. Fertility and mortality questions covered in population census for some countries are so extensive that the total number of questions on these topics is close to The investigation of fertility and mortality in population censuses is particularly important in countries lacking a timely and reliable system of vital statistics because of the opportunity the data provide for estimating vital rates that would not otherwise be available 17. However one should keep in mind that some questions might not be suitable for censuses, such as the survival of siblings. This question is recommended to be used in large-scale household surveys and fertility surveys because relatively little experience has been gained in their use in a population census. 18 (2) Sample surveys as sources of data 17 United Nations Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Rev. 2, Para Handbook on the Collection of Fertility and Mortality Data, United Nations, Para

19 40. All countries studied in the report have used demographic and health surveys for fertility and mortality estimates in the last 10 years. Both ICF Macro 19 and the United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) are actively involved in most of the surveys conducted in the region. For a few countries - Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa national demographic surveys are conducted independently by National Statistics Offices. (Table 4) Table 4. Most recent demographic/health surveys conducted in the country and main regional/international agencies involved Country Latest demographic/health surveys Main agency involved in the survey conducted Botswana 2006 Inter-censal demographic survey Central Statistics Office Democratic 2007 Demographic and Health Survey ICF Macro Republic of Congo Lesotho 2001 Inter-censal demographic survey Bureau of Statistics Madagascar 2003/04 Demographic and Health Survey ICF Macro Malawi Mauritius 2004 Demographic and Health Survey 2006 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey III ICF Macro UNICEF Mozambique 2003 Demographic and Health Survey ICF Macro Namibia 2006 Inter-censal Demographic Survey Central Bureau of Statistics South Africa 2003 Demographic and Health Survey ICF Macro 2007 Community Survey Statistics South Africa Swaziland 2006/07 Demographic and Health Survey ICF Macro United Republic of 2007/08 HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator ICF Macro Tanzania Survey Zambia 2007 Demographic and Health Survey ICF Macro Zimbabwe 2005/06 Demographic and Health Survey ICF Macro 41. Common modules on fertility and mortality in those surveys include the birth history module, sisterhood survival (for maternal mortality), survivorship of biological parents, and recent deaths in the household. Data dissemination was up-to-date and thorough for most of the surveys conducted. E. Availability of vital statistics based on the Demographic Yearbook reporting 42. The United Nations Statistics Division collects vital statistics from National Statistical Offices through the Demographic Yearbook 20 and this section provides an overview of the availability of vital statistics in SADC countries for the period of , based on the Demographic Yearbook data collection. 19 The survey project is funded by US Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by ICF Macro. 20 Questionnaires and published issues of Demographic Yearbook are available online at 11

20 43. Data on vital statistics are collected through two questionnaires - Vital Statistics Questionnaire and Population Census General Characteristics Questionnaire. The Vital Statistics Questionnaire collects data annually on births, deaths, foetal deaths, marriages and divorces, cross-classified by various social and demographic characteristics such as age, sex, marital status, etc. These data are mainly obtained from civil registration system that existed in countries 21. The Population Census Questionnaire, on the other hand, collects data obtained through national population censuses. Two tables that can be used for indirect estimation of the level and trend of fertility and mortality children ever born and children surviving are collected in this questionnaire. The Population Census Questionnaire is sent to countries after a census has been conducted. 44. The Demographic Yearbook data collection includes the most basic tabulations that a country should produce for national planning as well as regional and international data comparison purposes. Therefore whether a country is able to provide up-to-date data to the Demographic Yearbook is a good indication of its capacity in producing vital statistics. Note that more detailed tabulations may be available at national level for planning and policy implementation purposes but the report focuses only on those that are essential for regional and international comparisons. 45. The data availability review is based on the data (as of 30 May 2010) that are currently available in the Demographic Yearbook database. Note that the database does not always reflect the real availability of data at country level - some countries may have information that has not been effectively disseminated at the regional and global levels. Consequently such information was unavailable to the UNSD 22. (1) Vital statistics from civil registration systems 46. Figure 2 below illustrates the availability of vital statistics in the Demographic Yearbook, obtained from civil registration systems for each country at the international level in the period of The analysis of country response is conducted based on the reporting of 42 tables, covering topics on live births, total fertility rate, deaths, infant deaths, foetal deaths, life table, marriages and divorces (see Annex 4 for a complete list of 21 The only exception is that when a country does not have a functioning civil registration, indicators from sample surveys are also covered in the Demographic Yearbook data collection. The exception does not apply to the countries discussed in the report. 22 One example refers to Botswana, where it was indicated by the country that registered births and deaths are published annually on Population Report by Central Statistical Office. Unfortunately the publication is not accessible to the author; and no data are provided to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook either. 12

21 tables). Responses to annulments are not included in the analysis because no data has been supplied by countries in the region. Figure 2. Number of vital statistics tables available in the Demographic Yearbook database Botswana Democratic Republic of Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia South Africa Swaziland United Republic of Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe Only two countries Mauritius and South Africa are able to provide vital statistics based on their civil registration systems annually. For the two countries, data provided to the Demographic Yearbook are mostly complete and up-to-date. Mauritius has provided data to 34 tables out of 42 in the period of The response from South Africa is a little lower than that from Mauritius, data for 26 tables were provided to the United Nations. (Figure 2) Some of the tables missing from the two countries include live births by birth weight or by gestational age, as well as a few tables on foetal deaths and on divorces. 49. Eight countries in the SADC region Botswana, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe provided some basic data on live births, deaths and infant deaths to the United Nations for the period However it was indicated by the countries that data provided were either derived from a population census or based on national projections. 50. Two countries in the region Democratic Republic of Congo and United Republic of Tanzania did not provide any data for the period under review. 13

22 Table 5. Number of vital statistics tables available in the Demographic Yearbook database Foetal deaths/a bortion s Life expectanc y Country Births TFR Death s Infant deaths Marriag es Divorce s Botswana Democratic Republic of Congo Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia South Africa Swaziland United Republic of Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe Total number of tables The reason for the lack of data from most of the countries in the region is the lack of a reliable civil registration system to produce vital statistics. However it is unfortunate that vital statistics is not compiled even for countries with moderate coverage of civil registration. For example, in Namibia the birth and death registration coverage is about 75% and 70%, respectively. But registration-based birth and death statistics are not available. 52. More information on whether the countries have data for each of the 42 tables and if so, the latest available year for the data is available in Annex 4. (2) Vital statistics from population census 53. The United Nations Statistics Division collects two census tables on fertility and mortality from National Statistical Offices number of children ever born and children living to female population. The analysis of data availability hence is based on whether these two tables are available from national population censuses. The population censuses considered here are those conducted in the 2000 census round, i.e., censuses conducted within the period from 1995 to Note that a number of countries in the region have conducted a census in the 2010 round ( ), such as Lesotho (2006), Malawi (2008), Mozambique (2007) and Swaziland (2007). However data for the more recent censuses were not available at the time the report is being prepared (2009). Total 14

23 54. Eleven out of the 13 countries conducted a census in the 2000 census round, with the exception of Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar. All countries except Mauritius included questions on both fertility and mortality on their census questionnaire, while Mauritius only focused on fertility. Out of the 11 countries that have covered both fertility and mortality topics in their 2000 round of censuses, only Malawi have provided both tables to the Demographic Yearbook based on the questions asked in the census. Mauritius was able to provide data on fertility. Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia provided data to one table only (either children ever born or living but not both) and five countries did not provide any data on children even born and living. (Table 6) Table 6. Vital statistics available from population censuses conducted in Country Census conducted in Questions on fertility and mortality Data on children ever born Botswana 2001 Yes No No Democratic Republic of Congo Lesotho 1996 Yes No No Madagascar Malawi 1998 Yes Yes Yes Mauritius 2000 On fertility only Yes - Mozambique 1997 Yes Yes No Namibia 2001 Yes Yes No South Africa 2001 Yes No No Swaziland 1997 Yes Yes No United Republic 2002 Yes No No of Tanzania Zambia 2000 Yes No Yes Zimbabwe 2002 Yes No No Note: -: not applicable F. Summary and conclusions 23 Data on children living 55. The report provides insight on the system of civil registration and vital statistics for countries in the SADC region. The assessment has shown that the state of the art of both the civil registration and vital statistics in the SADC region, with very few exceptions, need numerous remedial actions. In the majority of the countries in the region, the coverage of civil registration of births and deaths is quite low; which, on the other hand, has detrimental impact on generating relevant, accurate and regular vital statistics. Substituting civil registration with 23 These are also recommendations from the Malawi workshop, 1-5 December 2008, Blantyre, Malawi. The workshop report is available online at 0workshop%20SADC%20final.pdf 15

24 other sources, such as population and housing censuses and households surveys, which is a current practice in the region, does not provide sustainable, regular and timely production of vital statistics, nor does it enable establishing time series that would allow for more in-depth analysis of these essential demographic phenomena. 56. In reviewing the current circumstances in the countries of the region it may be concluded that improvements are needed in almost all the areas of concerns: the presence of the civil registration law, its enforcement, the existence of the civil registration service, the compliance with international standards in terms of topics, coverage and procedures, availability of statistical capacities to compile and process data, and routine dissemination of vital statistics. 57. The review of national practices also pointed to several areas in need of immediate attention. These areas of work are synthesized in the following paragraphs. 58. First, national governments need to commit themselves toward improving civil registration and vital statistics as both have crucial impact on planning, decision making and monitoring development programmes. Without such a commitment followed-up by concrete actions in that regard the improvement in these areas is not likely to occur. 59. Second, the legal framework that exists in many countries in the region needs to be revisited and improved. The revised legal framework should (a) specify clearly the responsibilities of different agencies at different levels involved in the civil registration; (b) include the statistical function of the civil registration system; (c) state clearly the coordination mechanisms needed for a smooth and efficient civil registration system and (d) cover all vital events recommended by the United Nations, especially the ones omitted by many countries such as foetal deaths and divorces. 60. Third, there is a need to improve the coverage of civil registration system in most countries in the region. Activities that could be adopted to improve the coverage include: (a) increasing the public awareness on the importance of civil registration by conducting appropriate public education campaign; (b) providing easy access to registration and better services to the public such as obtaining the birth certificate from local public office rather than travelling to the Registrar General s office; and (c) computerizing the civil registration system, which is particularly helpful for countries that already have moderate coverage and need an immediate push to producing vital statistics. 61. Fourth, bridging the civil registration system and vital statistics has been particularly challenging. Many of the countries in the region have a functioning 16

25 civil registration system but the system does not translate into sufficient and reliable vital statistics. For some countries in the region, national statistics offices do not work with the civil registration agency at all and then there is only limited vital information available from the civil registration agency and its quality is not fully assessed. 62. Fifth, there is a lack of quality control and assessment mechanism for the civil registration and vital statistics systems in some countries in the region. The reason for this is lack of capacity to assess the quality and completeness of the registration system. Without proper quality assessment mechanism, it is not possible for future improvements within the country, and it is also difficult for regional comparisons. 17

26 Part II. Country profiles 63. Part II of the report comprises individual country profiles, offering an insight on various aspects of the civil registration system, such as the legal framework, organization of the civil registration system, technical aspects of the system, completeness of the system and challenges faced. Each country profile also shows (1) the organizational structure of the vital statistics system, including the authority that collects, compiles and disseminates vital statistics, (2) data availability at country level and (3) the use of population censuses and sample surveys that collect data to measure fertility and mortality. Furthermore, each country profile includes the availability of vital statistics, reported by the countries to the UNSD through the Demographic Yearbook questionnaires The main sources of information used in the report were the proceedings of the United Nations Workshop on Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in SADC Region, held in Blantyre, Malawi, 1-5 December 2008, including, pre-workshop questionnaires completed by countries participants, the country presentations and status reports as well as the exchange of information between UNSD and country representatives during the 4-day Workshop Other sources used include technical reports, publications and websites on civil registration and vital statistics published by national civil registration authorities and national statistical offices. These sources are footnoted when appropriate. Information on the availability of national vital statistics is obtained from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook data collection system. 66. More information may be available than have been compiled in this report. Some countries may have information that has not been effectively disseminated at the regional and global levels. Consequently such information was not available at the time of the finalisation of the report. Botswana Historical development of the civil registration system 67. The registration of births and deaths in Botswana started in When it was first established, registration of vital events was only compulsory in towns and 24 The United Nations Statistics Division collects, processes and disseminates population and vital statistics, through the Demographic Yearbook, for more than 230 countries and areas in the world. 25 The questionnaires sent to countries are available in Annex 1 and Annex 2. The questionnaire as well as country reports and presentations are also available online at nts.htm. 18

27 major villages. The Registration Act was revised a number of times and the last revision on birth and death registration (1998) specified that registration of births, still-births and deaths are mandatory. In reality, however, most of the registrations are only conducted when there is a pressing need such as attending school or claiming benefit from insurance company for a deceased relative. Legal framework for the civil registration 68. The registration of vital events in Botswana is regulated through the Birth and Death Registration Act (Chapter 30:01) and the Marriage Act (Chapter 29:01). 69. The Birth and Death Registration Act (1998) specifies definitions for live births, still-birth and deaths. The Act also specifies the informant for each event, the minimum duration between the date of occurrence and registration of the events (60-day period for the registration of live births and still-birth and 30-day period for the registration of deaths), and the responsibility of District Registrars in the registration process. Special provision is made regarding the determination of cause of death. Provision is also made on the late registration of vital events and penalties for non-compliance to the law. The Birth and Death Registration Act does not include other details of the registration procedure such as the information to be registered and the preparation of statistical report. 70. The Marriage Act was established in The Act specifies the definition of a marriage, the required documents to register and the procedure to register a marriage. The Act also has provisions for the registration of Customary, Muslim, Hindu and other religious marriages. Organisation of the civil registration system 71. The civil registration system in Botswana is centralized and administered by the Department of Civil and National Registration (under the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs). Births, foetal deaths and deaths are registered at either the hospital or municipal offices. The registration of births and deaths is computerized and the registration records are transferred from the district offices to the central office electronically. Marriages are registered manually at the municipal offices and divorces are registered at court offices. However only marriage registration records are sent to the central office for further processing. 72. Responsibilities of local civil registrars include recording vital and civil status events and safekeeping of the records; issuing certified copies of civil registration records; celebrating marriages; promoting complete registration of vital events; and reporting civil registration data to higher level offices. 73. Local civil registrars receive copies of current laws and regulations on civil registration as well as updated handbooks or instructions on civil registration. 19

28 Local civil registrars also receive in service training and direct advice by higher level civil registration authorities through field visits. Technical supervision to local civil registrars work is provided by registration authorities from the Department of Civil and National Registration as well as from district level civil registration offices. 74. One question remains for quality control purposes the supervision provided to health officials registering live births, still births and deaths in the hospital. If the central registration office does not have administrative power over local hospitals, it will be difficult to monitor the quality of the work conducted by the hospitals. In addition, the information on cause of death is completed by medical doctors and the communication between the medical doctors and civil registrars becomes crucial to ensure the quality of the statistics. This, however, was not addressed by the workshop participants. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Definition of vital events 75. According to the Botswana Births and Deaths Registration Act (Chapter 30:01), birth is defined as the issuing forth from the mother at any time of a child who, at any time after being wholly expelled from the mother, breathes or shows any other sign of life, or the issuing forth from the mother of a child, whether dead or alive, after the expiration of the twentyeighth week of pregnancy. Still-born and still-birth apply to any child who has issued forth from the mother after the expiration of the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy and did not, at any time after being wholly expelled from the mother, breath or show any other sign of life. 76. Births defined above includes both live births as defined by the United Nations 26 and deadborn foetuses who have more than 28-week of gestational age. The still-born and still-birth defined in the Act correspond more to the late foetal death being defined in the 1973 recommendations issued by the United Nations Statistics Division 27, except for the presence of the 28-week gestational age requirement. 26 Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Rev. 2, 2001, United Nations, New York, Para Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Rev. 1, 1973, United Nations, New York. In the 2001 revision of the publication, it recommended that terminology such as late foetal death be replaced by the use of weight-specific measures, e.g., the foetal death rate for foetuses of 20

29 77. The term death is not defined in the Registration Act. Informants 78. The informant for the occurrence of a birth or a still-birth is the mother or father. For deaths reporting, an adult relative of the deceased who is present at the time of the death occurs, or if no such person, other person who lives in the household shall report to the registrar s office. In addition, a notice of death from a doctor needs to be presented, for deaths attended by a medical practitioner. The completed forms are sent to district registration office for data capture and issuance of certificate. Time allowed for registration 79. The minimum duration between the date of occurrence and registration of the events is 60 days for the registration of births and still-birth and 30 days for the registration of deaths. Provision for late and delayed registration 80. There is a penalty of 5 BWP (Botswana Pula, 1 BWP is about USD 0.15 as of November 2009) for each month of delayed registration, with a maximum penalty of 100 BWP. Coverage of the civil registration system 81. The civil registration system in Botswana has not been evaluated by either the Civil Registrar or the Statistics Office in the past ten years. UNICEF estimated that the birth coverage was about 58% for the period of There is no estimate on how complete the death registration is, however it is believed that the coverage of death registration is lower than that of birth registration. Sources of vital statistics 82. The vital statistics system in Botswana is centralized and is administered by the Central Statistics Office, under the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. Vital statistics in Botswana are obtained from three sources population census, inter-censual demographic surveys and civil registration (partially). 83. The latest population census was conducted in 2001 and the fertility and mortality questions included children ever born and living, births occurred in the last two years and survival of the children, as well as household deaths in the last 1,000 or more grams etc) - Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Rev. 2, 2001, United Nations, New York, Page Birth registration coverage was estimated through the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey

30 two years. The following fertility and mortality estimates were obtained through the population census: crude birth rate, general fertility rate, total fertility rate, crude death rate, infant and child mortality rate and under 5 mortality rate. The census results were published in An inter-censal demographic survey was conducted in 2006 by the Central Statistics Office of Botswana. The survey used a stratified two-stage probability sample design and interviewed households (2.9% sample) covering the entire country. The following fertility and mortality questions were included: children ever born alive and living, last live birth and the survival of the birth, births in the last 12 months and their survival, household deaths in the last 12 months and basic characteristics of the deceased (including a question on cause of death). The following fertility and mortality estimates were obtained from the survey: crude birth rate, general fertility rate, total fertility rate, crude death rate, infant and child mortality rate and under 5 mortality rate. The survey report was published in January The Central Statistics Office also obtains vital statistics from the Department of Civil and National Registration. Both offices - the Central Statistics Office 31 and the Department of Civil and National Registration publish statistics on registered births, deaths and marriages. Divorces are registered by court offices (under the High Court of Botswana) and registration records are not provided to the Department of Civil and National Registration. Therefore no statistics is generated on the registered divorces in the country. 86. Vital statistics obtained from the population censuses and surveys are coherent but statistics from civil registration is not consistent with data obtained from the other two data sources. This is mainly because of the under-coverage of the civil registration system in Botswana. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 87. Botswana did not provide any vital statistics to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook that were generated from its civil registration system for the year The only available data are the total number of live births, deaths and infant deaths, as well as deaths by age and sex for 2001, which is the 29 Fertility and mortality indicators derived from 2001 population census are available online at 30 The Survey report is available online at 31 Registered births, deaths and marriages are published annually in the Population Report by the Central Statistics Office. The publication is mentioned on the webpage of the Central Statistics Office as having data on registered births and deaths. Unfortunately it is not available for viewing or downloading. 22

31 year of census for Botswana. Estimate of life expectancy is available for (Annex 4) 88. The two census tabulations female population by age and number children ever born and children living are not available for the 2001 Botswana census. (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 89. There are two main issues related to the civil registration and vital statistics systems in Botswana. First, the civil registration coverage is low. There are a number of reasons for the low coverage: (1) civil registration became compulsory only since 1998 and there is a lack of awareness of the public on the importance of the registration sometimes birth is only registered when the child is going to school and death is registered only when the relatives need to file a claim with the insurance company; (2) birth registration is not required to access public services such as health care and primary school education and therefore there is no incentives to register; (3) births and deaths occurred outside of the health institutions are difficult to capture; (4) traditional marriages that are processed by the village chief/kgosi are not captured by the civil registration system; (5) there are difficulties for remote area dwellers to access the registration facilities, some of the remote areas can only be reached by boat or air; and (6) human resource limitation also hampers the registration of vital events. 90. The second issue relates in particular to the production of vital statistics there is a lack of coordination between the Central Statistics Office and the Department of Civil and National Registration. For example, even though the two agencies share information electronically, the database platform that the Civil Registrar uses (ORACLE-based) and the analysis software that the Statistics Office uses (SPSS) can not be easily adapted to each other. Another example of lack of coordination is that the civil registration districts and the census districts are defined differently and hence make it difficult to compile vital rates when the numerator is from civil registration and the denominator is population obtained from population censuses. 91. In terms of future plans, the Department of Civil and National Registration plans to intensify the public campaign to improve the public awareness in the importance of civil registration. Collaboration with UNICEF on the improvement of birth registration is also underway. Democratic Republic of Congo Legal framework for the civil registration 23

32 92. The registration of vital events (live births, deaths, marriages and divorces) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is regulated through the Code de la famille (article No ). Organisation of the civil registration system 93. The civil registration system in DRC is centralized and administered by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The registration of live births, deaths and marriages are carried out by La Commune urbaine ou Rurale, chefferie ou secteur. The Registration of divorces is administered by the Tribunal de paix. There are local registration offices in each major administrative division. 94. At local level, live births, deaths and marriages are registered at municipal offices and population registers while divorces are registered at court offices. 95. Responsibilities of local civil registrars include recording vital and civil status events and safekeeping of the records; celebrating marriages; and reporting civil registration data to higher level offices. 96. Local civil registrars receive direct advice by higher level civil registration authorities through field visits. Both technical and administrative supervision to local civil registrars work is provided by judicial authorities vested with responsibilities for the custody of the records. 97. The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for compiling vital statistics from civil registration. The vital records are in pre-printed forms and then transferred to the office at province level from local registrars. The Ministry of Home Affairs at the central government obtains vital records from provincial offices and then compiles, analyses and produces vital statistics. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Coverage of civil registration 98. The civil registration system in DRC does not cover the entire territory within the country boundary. The following areas are not covered: some parts of the country in the east that is at war; the rural areas that there is no road to access and the equatorial forest in the country that is difficult to reach. In addition, the pygmies that live in the forest are not covered by the civil registration system because of the lack of communication mechanisms. People who are illiterate tend to ignore the registration due to insufficient knowledge on the importance of civil registration. 99. No assessment has been made in the past ten years on the coverage of the civil registration system in the country. The only estimate about the coverage 24

33 was available from the 2007 Demographic and Health Survey where the coverage is assessed at 31% for birth registration. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 100. DRC did not provide to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook any vital statistics for the period (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 101. There is no plan in DRC on improving its civil registration system. UNICEF has implemented certain measures for a period in the past to improve the birth registration in the country. This effort has been terminated. DRC welcomes any assistance in improving its civil registration system, especially for difficult to access areas. Lesotho Legal framework for the civil registration system 102. The registration of vital events in Lesotho is regulated through various decrees. The Registration of Births and Deaths Act of 1973 under section 3 provides for compulsory registration of births whether born alive or stillborn 32 as well as registration of deaths. Also within the Act, Section 4(1) empowers the office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths to be the general registrar and to keep a register of all births and deaths occurred in Lesotho The Act under Section 5 empowers the Minister (of Local Government) to appoint the District Administrators and Assistant Registrars to be Registrars and also act as Marriage Officers Section 35(1) and (2) of the Marriage Act of 1974 provides that every solemnized marriage should be entered in the register by the Marriage Officer and a duplicate thereof must be transmitted to the Registrar General s office for safekeeping of the record. Organisation of the civil registration system 105. The registration of births, deaths, orphans and change of names in Lesotho is administered by the office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths under the Ministry of Local Government. The office is the central organ and custodian of the entire national records. The mandate of the office is to register vital events 32 Note that birth here used in Lesotho is not the same as live birth in the United Nations Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Rev. 2, where only those born alive are defined as live birth. 25

34 and propose policy and amendments on any legislation administered by the office to ensure effective and efficient functioning of the office The registration system for births and deaths in Lesotho is recently decentralized to help improving the registration completeness. Registration forms are completed in triplicate by the Chiefs in the village. The forms are then sent to the District Administrator in individual district for authorization, production and issuance of certificates Registration of marriages and divorces is coordinated by the Registrar General s office in the Ministry of Law and Constitutional Affairs. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Availability of information on place of occurrence and place of usual residence 108. On the birth and death registration forms, information on both the place of occurrence and place of usual residence (of the child for births and of the deceased for deaths) is requested. Procedures to registering a vital event 109. Every birth of a child must be reported immediately after birth has occurred and before the expiry of one year to the Chief who then fills the prescribed form in triplicate. The form is then transmitted to the District Registrar, who authorizes and issues a certificate. The Registrar also captures the information and stores the information in the register in electronic format In cases where the birth of a child has not been reported within a year of occurrence, the office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths is responsible for registering births and for keeping the registers upon payment of fees The same procedure is followed for deaths as well With regard to the registration of marriages, a record is made by the Marriage Officers when a marriage has been solemnized. The office then keeps original duplicates of the certificate of every marriage upon receipt of such form from the Marriage Officers. The rationality of integrating all vital events under one Ministry have been achieved with the exception of marriages and divorces which are still part of the Registrar General s office in the Ministry of Law and Constitutional Affairs. Coverage of the civil registration system 26

35 113. The civil registration system in Lesotho has very low coverage and the most recent assessment of birth registration coverage was estimated to be 29.3% 33. Sources of vital statistics 114. The Bureau of Statistics (under Ministry of Finance and Development Planning) is responsible for collecting, compiling, analyzing and disseminating vital statistics in Lesotho. The main sources of vital statistics in Lesotho are population censuses and sample surveys. The latest population census was conducted in 2006 and questions were asked on age at first marriage, survival of birth parents, children ever born and living, births occurred in the last 12 months and survival of the children and the survival of siblings. About twenty questions were asked in the census on fertility and mortality An inter-censual demographic survey was conducted in 2001 by the Bureau of Statistics and fertility and mortality questions asked in the survey were similar to those in the 2006 census questionnaire. The survey used the stratified two-stage probability sample design and interviewed around households (4% sample based on the total number of households in the 1996 census) covering the entire country. The following fertility and mortality estimates were obtained through the survey: crude birth rate, general fertility rate, total fertility rate, crude death rate, infant and child mortality rate, under 5 mortality rate and maternal mortality. The survey results were published in The Bureau of Statistics also has the mandate to produce birth and death statistics collected from the civil registration system in the country. The Bureau receives copies of the registration forms from the District Administrator s Office (under the Registrar of Births and Deaths Office) for data processing. The collection of forms on marriages and divorces from the District Administrator s Office started recently. Latest information on registered marriages and divorces is available in Vital Statistics Report 2009 Marriages and Vital Statistics Report Divorces. 34 Latest available data on the number of birth deliveries, stillbirths and maternal deaths occurred in the hospital and health services in the country are also available in Health Statistics Report It was considered by the Bureau of Statistics that vital statistics generated from the civil registration system cannot be used for planning purposes due to its low coverage Vital statistics obtained from the census and survey is coherent but statistics from civil registration is not consistent with the other two data sources. This is mainly because of the under-coverage of the civil registration system in Lesotho. 33 The assessment was obtained through the 2004 Demographic and Health Survey 34 Available online at 27

36 Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 118. Lesotho did not provide to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook any vital statistics that were generated from its civil registration system for the year The only available data is the estimate of life expectancy for the year (Annex 4) 119. The two census tabulations female population by age and number children ever born and children living are not available for the 1996 Lesotho census. 35 (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 120. There are three main issues related to the civil registration and vital statistics systems in Lesotho. First, the civil registration coverage is low. There are a number of reasons for the low coverage: (1) although the civil registration offices became decentralized since 2000, accessibility of the service is still a challenge for people living in remote areas; (2) the transmission of completed registration forms from the village chief to district office is very slow and some forms only reach the District Registrar s Office when the Chief happens to visit the office; (3) there is a lack of awareness of the public on the importance of civil registration; and (4) there is not enough resource to carry out the civil registration function The second issue relates to the quality of registration forms. The forms are usually not properly completed and many important fields on the form are often missing The third issue is connected in particular to the production of vital statistics. There is no legal obligation on transferring registration forms from the District Registrar s Office to the Bureau of Statistics forms are only brought in for statistical processing when the civil registrar visits the Bureau of Statistics occasionally for other purposes. In terms of data processing, the Information Technology Production and Dissemination Division within the Bureau of Statistics is currently dealing with all data processing tasks within the Bureau and vital statistics cannot be processed on time due to other competing priorities To improve the coverage and reporting of vital statistics, Lesotho plans to (1) conduct advocacy campaigns to raise the public awareness on the importance of civil registration; (2) work with key stakeholders such as Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and develop a strategy to improving the reporting of vital events; (3) provide trainings to staff working in the Vital Statistics Section in the Bureau of Statistics so the processing of vital 35 The census data availability analysis is only carried out for censuses conducted in the 2000 round, i.e., censuses conducted in the period

37 statistics can be done in-house and gains higher priority among other competing tasks; (4) start analyzing the data on marriages and divorces; and (5) publish report on vital statistics annually. Madagascar Legal framework for the civil registration 124. The civil registration system in Madagascar is regulated by the law No of 9 October 1961 on civil status. Several amendments have been made and the last revision was completed in The law specifies the responsibilities of the civil status officer; completing and storing vital records; the procedures to be followed to register vital events; informants; and dealing with changes and corrections on vital records. The law also states that the time allowed for birth and death registration is twelve days Submission of statistical summary tables based on the vital records is also mentioned in the Law. It is specified that summary tables should be provided to statistics offices every 5 years. Organisation of the civil registration system 127. The civil registration system in Madagascar is centralized and is related to two different ministries the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Interior supervises the daily work of births, deaths and marriages registration, which is undertaken by the Mayor in municipal offices. Divorces are registered in court offices, under the Ministry of Justice. Ministry of Justice is also responsible for collecting registered vital records from the municipality level and compiling vital statistics Local civil status officers are usually appointed by the Mayor, who is at least 21 years of age. Supervision and guidance are provided by the Mayor Hospitals are used as secondary registration units, for births and deaths occurred in the facility. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Items required to registering vital events 130. Items required on the birth notification form include the date, time and place of birth, sex of the child and the full names given to him, the name, age, place of birth, occupation and usual residence of parents Items required for death registration include the date, time and place of death; the name, sex, date and place of birth (approximate age when the birth 29

38 date can not be shown), occupation and usual residence of the deceased; the name, occupation and residence of his father and mother; the full name of spouse if the deceased person is married; if applicable, the name, age, occupation and address of the declarant and, where applicable, its relationship with the deceased For the registration of a marriage, one needs to provide the following: the name, occupation, age, date and place of birth, parentage, residence and nationality of the bride and the groom. Under certain conditions imposed by the Act, parental consent is also needed. Completeness of the civil registration system 133. There is no recent assessment carried out by the agencies in the country on the completeness of the civil registration system. However it is known that civil registration does not exist in some rural and remote areas. Births occurred to homeless people in large cities are not covered either. Based on the 2000 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey in Madagascar, the coverage of under-5 birth registration varies from around 75% in the country, to 82% in urban areas and 72% in rural areas. Sources of vital statistics 134. The Institut National de la Statistique of Madagascar is responsible for producing vital statistics, out of the only two sources - Population census and sample surveys. There is no statistics produced from the civil registration system. The latest population census was conducted in 1993 and questions on children ever born and children living were included. The last two Demographic and Health Surveys that can be used for fertility and mortality estimates were conducted in 1997 and 2003/ Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 135. Madagascar did not provide to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook any vital statistics that were generated from its civil registration system for the year The only available data is the total fertility rate for (Annex 4) 136. The last population census in Madagascar was conducted in The latest available data for the country on the two census tables female population by age and number children ever born and children living were for the year 1946 in the Demographic Yearbook. (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 36 Final report online at 30

39 137. The civil registration system in Madagascar does not cover everybody in the country, as mentioned earlier. Vital events occurred in rural and remote areas are not registered due to various reasons: (1) it is difficult for people to reach the registration office given the short period of time allowed for registration (12 days after the occurrence of the vital events); (2) births assisted by traditional birth attendants usually do not get registered because the traditional birth attendants are not recognized by the State; and (3) most of the rural population are illiterate and are not aware of the fact that they need to register The factor that hampers the production of vital statistics from the civil registration system in Madagascar is the missing linkage between the civil registrars and the office compiling vital statistics. According to the law, registrars at municipal level should provide the registration records to the Ministry of Justice every five years. However this practice is not carried out at the time the Report is being prepared (2009) due to resource constraints. Statistical tabulations generated in local civil registration offices, as well as those generated at higher levels are not provided to the Institut National de la Statistique of Madagascar either Since 2004, the government of Madagascar, in collaboration with UNICEF and UNDP, has established a programme to revitalize the birth registration in the country. The following activities are planned: (1) establishing a local committee to monitor the birth registration; (2) revising the civil registration law to extend the time allowed for birth registration from 12 to 45 days and to include special provisions for the registration of births occurred in remote areas; (3) implementing programmes to raise the awareness of citizens on the registration of vital events; and (4) providing trainings to civil registrars on the importance of civil registration. Malawi Civil registration system 140. The civil registration system in Malawi is not compulsory, according to the Birth and Death Registration Act (Chapter 24:01 of Laws of Malawi) of The existing legal framework caters primarily for the White Settlers and Asian Communities. Under this outdated Act the registration of births, marriages and deaths is optional for the indigenous Africans. Civil registration system is now compulsory. There is a law, National Registration Act, 2009 which has repealed Birth and Death Registration Act of Although the current system does not have any compulsory birth registration, a birth certificate is produced on demand as they may be required to prove nationality. In order to register the birth, a Birth Report Form needs to be completed at the District Commissioner, the hospitals or the Registrar General s 31

40 Office. The information collected through the form is then manually entered into the birth register. Birth registration is conducted without verifying the identity of the individual such as parents or guardian of the child due to the fact that national identity card or other types of identification document do not exist in Malawi The items registered for a birth include the date and place of birth, full name of the child, sex, name, usual residence, occupation and nationality of parents The information registered for a death include the date and place of death, cause of death, name, address, occupation and nationality of the deceased, sex and age of the deceased, length of residence in Malawi as well as the signature, name, address and occupation of the informant The entire system of civil registration in Malawi is operated manually. No statistics is compiled from the system and there is no evaluation of the system. Because of the non-compulsory nature, most people choose to register only when necessary, such as applying for a passport before travelling abroad The registration function is carried out by the Department of Registrar General (under the Ministry of Justice) at the time the report is being prepared (2009). A new agency the National Registration Bureau (under the Office of the President and Cabinet) was established in 2005 to build a population registration system. The Bureau will take over the work of civil registration once all the preparatory work is completed. The Bureau is currently working on drafting the new civil registration law. Sources of vital statistics 146. The vital statistics system in Malawi is centralized and the National Statistics Office is the responsible agency. The main sources of vital statistics in Malawi are population censuses and sample surveys. The latest population census was conducted in 2008 and questions on fertility and mortality included age at first marriage, children ever born and living, births occurred in the last 12 months and survival of the children, survival of siblings and household deaths occurred in the last 12 months The last two sample surveys related to the estimates of fertility and mortality are the 2004 Demographic and Health Survey 38 and the 2006 Multiple 37 Report available online at 38 Report available online at ur&cn=malawi 32

41 Indicator Cluster Survey 39, respectively. The 2004 survey interviewed around household and the 2006 survey interviewed households. The following fertility and mortality estimates were obtained through the two surveys: crude birth rate, total fertility rate, crude death rate, infant mortality rate, neonatal mortality rate, under 5 mortality rate and maternal mortality. The survey results were published in 2006 and 2008, respectively. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 148. Malawi did not provide, to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, any vital statistics that were generated from its civil registration system for the year The only available data are the total number of live births, deaths and infant deaths, deaths by age and sex and infant deaths by sex, which are either estimates based on the 1998 population census or national projections. Total fertility rate and estimate of life expectancy are also available. (Annex 4) 149. The two census tabulations female population by age and number of children ever born and children living are available for the 1998 Malawi census in the Demographic Yearbook data collection. (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 150. The most challenging issue related to the civil registration system is its non-compulsory nature. Although the new law will make the registration compulsory, it will still take a long period for the public to follow the requirement Another major challenge is to establish a functioning protocol for the transfer of registration information from the registration agency to the National Statistics Office A new agency the National Registration Bureau (under the Office of the President and Cabinet) was established in 2005 to build a population registration system. The Bureau will take over the work of civil registration once all the preparatory work is completed. The Bureau is currently working on drafting the new civil registration law. At the time of the workshop in Blantyre the bill was already drafted, waiting for parliament to enact it. Now the bureau is looking for a contractor to set up the system which will computerize the registration system and produce national identity cards and birth certificates. Mauritius History of the civil registration system 39 Final report available online at 33

42 153. Civil registration in Mauritius started in Births, deaths and marriages have been registered since then and registration records are available. Staring from November 2001, the registration system has been functioning electronically. Legal framework for the civil registration 154. The registration of births, deaths and marriages is regulated by the Civil Status Act The Act specifies the responsibilities of civil registrars; appointments of civil registrars in other Islands of Mauritius; safekeeping of vital records; issuance of certificates; timelines to register births, deaths and marriages; informants and documents required to register; items to be completed in the registration forms; registration of births and deaths occurred on ship or aircraft; registration of orphans; providing cause-of-death information; and penalties for not registering vital events on time. Organisation of the civil registration system 155. The civil registration system in Mauritius is centralized and is administered by two agencies live births, stillbirths, deaths and marriages are registered by the Central Civil Status Office (under the Office of the Prime Minister) and divorces are registered by the Supreme Court of Mauritius There are a total of 12 main offices under the Central Civil Status for its 9 districts as well as 3 dependencies (Rodrigues, Agalega Islands and Cargados Carajos Shoals). A total of 36 sub-offices are administered under the 12 main offices Responsibilities of local civil registrars include recording vital events and safekeeping of the records; issuing certified copies of civil registration records; celebrating marriages; and issuing burial permits In terms of obtaining guidance for their work, local civil registrars receive in service training and direct advice by higher level civil registration authorities through field visits. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Definition of vital events 159. According to the Mauritius Births and Deaths Registration Act (Chapter 30:01), birth is defined as issuing forth of a child dead or alive from its mother after the 28th week of pregnancy. The definition of birth stated above has a twenty-eight week gestational age requirement and in addition, includes deadborn foetuses who have more than 34

43 28-week of gestational age. This definition is different from what is recommended by United Nations, where only live births are considered The term death is not defined in the Registration Act. Procedures to registering birth 161. A birth needs to be registered within 45 days from the date of birth at the Civil Status Office within the district in which the birth took place or in which the parents resided at the time of birth If the parents are civilly married to each other, only one parent may appear before the Civil Status Officer to declare the birth. If the parents are not civilly married and both wish to acknowledge the child, they should both call on the Civil Status Officer to acknowledge the child and sign the registers of birth. If only one parent declare a birth, then the child will bear the surname of that parent Items to bring while registering a birth include marriage certificate of parents; birth certificates of both parents if civilly married; proof of birth issued by the hospital or clinic authorities; and national identity cards of parents/informants For birth occurred on Mauritian ship or aircraft, the master of the ship or aircraft shall draw up a memorandum of the birth. On the arrival of the ship in any harbour of Mauritius or the landing of the aircraft in Mauritius, the master shall deliver the memorandum to the Director of Shipping or the Director of Civil Aviation as the case may be, who shall transmit it to the Civil Status Office for registration in the appropriate register There is a gift voucher of 200 Mauritian rupees (about USD6.7 as of November 2009) for a registered birth Content of the birth notification form include the date of birth, sex and birthweight of the child; type of the birth; name, age, nationality and occupation of parents, whether the child was born in-wedlock and if yes, the duration of marriage; number of previous live births and still births to the mother and date of previous live birth; the place of occurrence and registration of the birth, as well as usual residence of the child. Provision for late and delayed birth registration 40 Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Rev. 2. United Nations, New York, Para

44 167. If a birth has not been declared within the 45 days' delay as prescribed by law, an authorization should be obtained from the Civil Status Office to enable registration. If a child is not registered after three months of the birth, the parent(s) have to apply for a declaration before the Magistrate of the district where the birth took place. Procedures to registering death 168. A death registration may be made at the Civil Status Office within the district where the death occurred or where the deceased last resided. After registration a permit is issued authorizing burial/cremation. One declarant is required at time of the registration Documents needed for the registration include medical certificate on the cause of death; birth certificate and marriage certificate of the deceased; and national identity card of the deceased Time allowed to register death is 24 hours. In order to facilitate the ontime registration, the main registration office is open all year long, including weekend and holidays. On-call service is provided for death registration after working hours. Exceptions are made, however, for Muslims where early burial (before the issuance of death certificate) is needed. In such cases, a doctor s note needs to be provided for the burial For deaths occurring outside of Mauritius and the body is brought to Mauritius for disposal, an officer may, issue a permit authorizing the body disposal if provided with a certificate from a health inspector Content of the death notification form include the date and place of death, age, sex, marital status, religion of the deceased as well as the causes of death. There is also an indicator on whether the death is medically certified. Procedures to registering marriage 173. A publication of the proposed civil marriage should be made 10 days prior to the proposed date of marriage at the Civil Status Office within the district where the marriage is to take place. Two witnesses are required to be present at time of the marriage ceremony The age at which a person can be officially (civilly) married is 18 years. A minor over 16 and under 18 can marry with the consent of his/her parents. If one of the parents is dead, the other parent may consent to the marriage with relevant proof of the death of the other spouse. 36

45 175. Documents needed for the registration of marriage are the birth certificates for both parties, previous marriage certificate(s) if divorced or the death/marriage certificate if widow/widower. National identity cards of both parties are also needed In Mauritius there are also many marriages by foreigners and there are special provisions in the Act for the registration of those marriages Content of the marriage registration form include the date of registration, date of the union started, age, occupation, religion, nationality, and place of residence of the bride and the groom. Coverage of the civil registration system 178. There is no assessment on the coverage of the civil registration system in Mauritius in the last 10 years. Earlier assessments were made by comparing data from the civil registration system with population censuses conducted in 1952, 1962 and 1972 and concluded that registration of births and deaths were complete (well above 90%). The registration of marriages is considered not complete because the system only registers civil marriages but not religious marriages. Sources of vital statistics 179. The vital statistics system in Mauritius is centralized and the Central Statistics Office (CSO, under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Empowerment) is the responsible agency. The main source of vital statistics in the country is the civil registration system. Population census is also used to collect information on fertility and nuptiality The civil registration system collects information on live births, stillbirths, deaths, marriages and divorces: live births, stillbirths, deaths and marriages are registered by the Central Civil Status Office and divorces are registered by the Judicial Department (also named Supreme Court of Mauritius). Electronic registration records are transmitted from the Central Civil Status Office to CSO for coding and dissemination. For divorce statistics, summary reports are provided to CSO for dissemination Vital statistics are published annually on Digest of Demographic Statistics 41 and data on live births, stillbirths, deaths and marriages are also published semiannually and annually on Population and Vital Statistics The latest issue is Digest of Demographic Statistics 2007, available online at 37

46 182. The latest population census was conducted in 2000 and questions on fertility included age at first marriage and children ever born. The census results on fertility and nuptiality were published in Availability of vital statistics 183. Mauritius is able to provide most of the tabulations requested by the United Nations based on its civil registration system for the period Data are mostly up-to-date the latest available data for Mauritius is 2006 for almost all tables except for the table on live births by duration of marriage Tables that are missing from Mauritius reporting include live births by birth weight and by gestational age; deaths by occupation; foetal deaths by gestational age and divorces by age of husband and wife Census tabulation female population by age and number children ever born is available in the Demographic Yearbook for the 2000 Mauritius census. No question was asked on children living in the 2000 census. Difficulties and future plans 186. One difficulty, according to participant from the Mauritius Central Statistics Office, was that currently all data processing has to be conducted by the Central Information Systems Division (under the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology). The Statistics Office does not have any IT professionals to intervene rapidly to problems in connection with IT related issues. To address this issue, the Central Statistics Office is implementing an IT action plan consisting of investment in a centralized database and analysis technology. Vital statistics will benefit from this investment through the reduction of manual capturing, coding and validation of vital records. The improved system will also enhance the analysis and reporting capacity of the Central Statistics Office In terms of future plans on civil registration, the Mauritius Civil Status Office is currently working on a project that provides online registration services to the public, in both English and French. 42 The latest issue is Population and Vital Statistics Year 2008, available online at 43 Census report available online at 38

47 Mozambique 44 Legal framework for the civil registration Civil registration in Mozambique was introduced by law in However, only the Portuguese population was covered by the system while the indigenous population was excluded. Only in 1961 did the system open for the inclusion of the indigenous population (as Portuguese citizens) and obligatory registration for the entire province of Mozambique was established. To cover the whole country mobile brigades were created under the auspices of the Civil Registry According to the law, which was revised in 1976, it is mandatory to register birth, marriage, death and certain other events. The law prescribes time limits for these registrations. The Civil Registry is also obliged by law to provide the National Institute of Statistic with demographic information particularly related to vital statistics justified by planning purposes The Directorate of the Registry, Notary and Identification was established as part of the Ministry of Justice only days before independence in June In 1982 the Identification section was separated from the Directorate and transferred to the Ministry of Interior and the previous directorate changed name to the Directorate of Registries and Notary (Direcção Nacional de Registos e Notariado, DNRN). Organisation of the civil registration system 191. The civil registration system in Mozambique is centralised and administered by the National Directorate of Registries and Notary (Direcção Nacional de Registos e Notariado, DNRN). Local registration offices for live births, foetal deaths and deaths include the civil registration conservatories, posts, hospital posts and mobile brigades (mobile brigades are for birth registration only, sponsored by UNICEF) The registration of marriages is conducted through the conservatories for religious and civil marriages and through the local authorities for traditional marriages. Registration of divorces is carried out by the conservatories when there is mutual consent and by the court when there is no mutual consent from the two parties. 44 Representatives from Mozambique did not participate in the workshop and information in the following session is gathered from pre-workshop assignments from Mozambique and from Evaluation of Systems for Registration and Identification of Persons in Mozambique, Statistics Norway, Information for this Section is obtained from Evaluation of Systems for Registration and Identification of Persons in Mozambique, Statistics Norway,

48 193. Information collected at local and district level, i.e., from civil registration conservatories, posts, hospital posts, mobile brigades and local authorities is forwarded to the provincial level civil registration agency and then to DNRN. Information is then sent to the Ministry of Justice from DNRN. All information on registered vital events is transmitted in individual pre-printed forms rather than via electronic means. Summary report is also sent to the upper level agencies. Technical aspects of the civil registration system 45 Definition of vital events 194. Live birth in Mozambique is defined as: Child birth that gives any sign of life, however small it is (cries, it emits no sound, performs any movement), even if few moments later it will die. Death is defined as: Permanent disappearance of all the vital sign at any time after birth without the possibility of returning to life. Marriage is defined as: legal act in which a man and a woman come together for a family. According to Mozambican law, a person can have no more than one legal spouse. Divorce is defined as: Dissolution of marriage ordered by the court in lives of both spouses, at the request of one against the other (a contested divorce) or two (divorce by mutual consent). The divorce by mutual consent can also be ordered by the conservatories of civil status. The definitions of those vital events comply with the United Nations Recommendations. Birth registration 195. Parents are obliged to report a birth to the nearest registration office, i.e., to the district office or the administrative post within 30 days. For children born in hospitals the parents receive a birth declaration which they bring to the nearest registration office. No written documentation is required if the child is born at home. Unmarried mothers need to be accompanied to the registration office by the father of the child, which often proves difficult. Incognito is entered if the mother does not wish to report or does not know the name of the father. The registration book is signed by the parent(s). 40

49 196. The information entered into the birth registry book includes name and sex of the child, date and place of birth and the names of both parents as well as the names of the grandparents, residence, locality and district. The registration officer also fills in a special form which the parents get and is used as a birth certificate. When a person dies the death is supposed to be recorded in the same book and on the same page as the birth and with a reference to the death register Delay in birth registration is common in Mozambique. Parents are reluctant to register a child who appears to have little chance to live. In addition, births for children who die soon after birth are only registered if the birth took place in a hospital. Some birth registration occurs even later when the person needs to apply for a national identity card Therefore both children and adults are entered into the birth registry book when there is a need for registration. Consequently, this book is not really a register of births but a register of persons. Everybody is born, of course, and it might be argued that it does not matter much when people registered. The problem is, however, that people who migrate or die without having registered are not entered into the book. The fact that persons of all ages are registered complicates the use of the books to produce vital statistics on the number of births during the year of registration. Registration of foetal deaths 199. Still births are usually registered by the civil registrar only if they occur in hospitals. Abortions are not registered by the registrar at all. The Central Hospital in Mauto has computerised data on all births and abortions, but this information is not transferred to registrar. Death registration 200. For deaths that occur in health facilities information about the death, including cause of death, is completed by health personnels. This form is taken to the registration office by relatives of the deceased, where the data are entered into the book for registration of deaths. For persons who die at home the relatives first report the death to the nearest administrative office, which writes a letter of declaration of death. This letter is taken by the relatives to the registration office where the death is registered (or sent from the administrative post to the district office) After the death registration a certificate is issued to the family or relatives. This certificate needs to be presented at the cemetery before the funeral is allowed, to claim a pension or to settle an inheritance. 41

50 202. Reference to the death record is also entered into the birth and marriage books (if the person was married). If the person was born or married in another district, information about the death is sent by mail for updating of the books. Marriage registration 203. In Mozambique a marriage may be established in several different ways: As an official (civil) marriage, which is registered when it takes place. In a religious ceremony, which needs to be preceded by an official marriage. The official marriage certificate is then brought to the church (or mosque, temple, synagogue, etc.). Before independence the order was the opposite, as the religious marriage document was taken to the registration office after the religious ceremony. In a traditional ceremony in the family according to the matrilineal or patrilineal customs. Traditional marriages are usually not registered. However, a marriage can be registered as a de facto marriage if the partners have lived together for three years and this is confirmed by witnesses. This is done in a special book When one of the spouses dies, the death is recorded in the marriage book on the same page as the marriage and with a reference to the death record. If the deceased was born in another district information is supposed to be sent there for updating In polygynous marriages only one marriage can be registered. This implies that the other wives have no formal legal protection if the husband dies or there is a divorce In a household survey of the provincial capitals in (Inquérito às famílias) only 23 per cent of the marriages had been registered, according to the respondents. Divorce registration 207. Formally registered divorces are uncommon and can only be obtained by court order (in addition a large number of unregistered marriages break up). Divorces are supposed to be entered into the marriage register, on the same page as the marriage was recorded. 42

51 208. The 1993 edition of Anuario estatistico gives the number of registered divorces in by province. These data were collected from the courts (Tribunal Supremo) and not civil registrar. Coverage of the civil registration system 209. The transfer of registration records of statistical forms to the National Institute of Statistics is not functional in Mozambique and there is no vital statistics derived from the system. The most recent estimate of birth registration coverage can be obtained from one question asked on the 2007 population census questionnaire whether people 17 years of age and younger are registered. The preliminary results released for the city of Maputo indicated that 57% of the people who are 1 year or younger were registered 46. There is no information on the death registration coverage. Sources of vital statistics 210. The vital statistics system in Mozambique is centralized and the National Institute of Statistics is the responsible agency. The main sources of vital statistics in the country are population censuses and sample surveys. The latest population census was conducted in 2007 and questions were asked on children ever born and living, births in the last 12 months and survival of the children, and household deaths occurred in the last 12 months and whether the deaths were pregnancy-related. The census preliminary results were published in The latest demographic survey Demographic and Health Survey was conducted in 2003 by the National Institute of Statistics in collaboration with ICF Macro. Fertility and mortality questions asked in the survey were children ever born and children living, birth history, as well as the survival of siblings. The survey used the stratified two-stage probability sample design and sample fraction is 2.9% covering the entire country. The survey results were published in The civil registration system in Mozambique is functional. However the linkage between the National Directorate of Registries and Notaries (DNRN) and the National Institute of Statistics does not exist and there is no vital statistics derived from the system. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 46 Preliminary census tabulations for Maputo city, available online at 47 Available online at 43

52 213. Mozambique did not provide, to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, any vital statistics that were generated from its civil registration system for the period The only available data are the total number of live births, deaths and infant deaths, as well as deaths by age and sex. These data were national projections. Total fertility rate is available for the year (Annex 4) 214. Data on female population by age and the number children ever born is available for the 1997 Mozambique census in the Demographic Yearbook. There is no data on female population by age and the number of children living. (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 215. There are three main issues related to the civil registration and vital statistics systems in Mozambique. First, the civil registration coverage is low. There are a number of reasons for the low coverage: (1) accessibility of the service is a challenge for people living in certain areas; (2) there is a lack of awareness of the public on the importance of civil registration; and (3) there is a fee for late registration, which hampers the registration The second issue relates to the quality of the registration. There is a problem of late registration, for example, people tend to register births only when necessary, i.e., for vaccination or for school enrolment. For marriage registration, legal marriage could happen a long time after the marital union and only when legal marriage occurs the event gets registered. In both cases, vital events are registered much later than when the events actually occur. Overregistration could also be a problem, which happens when someone loses his or her birth certificate and would just re-register for convenience The third issue is connected in particularly to the production of vital statistics. There is no protocol on transferring registration forms from the National Directorate of Registries and Notaries to the National Institute of Statistics To improve the coverage and reporting of vital statistics, Mozambique plans to (1) conduct advocacy campaigns to raise the public awareness on the importance of civil registration; (2) increase the number of registration posts in hospital to capture more births; (3) improve human capacity for the task of registration; (4) accelerate the computerization of the registration process; and (5) improve the working relationship between DNRN and the National Institute of Statistics to facilitate the information flows. Namibia Legal framework for the civil registration 44

53 219. The registration of vital events in Namibia is regulated through the South African Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Act (Act. 41, 1986). According to the Act, the registration of births and deaths is compulsory The Registration Act specifies definitions for live births and still-births. The Act also specifies how a registrar should be appointed, informant for each event, requirements to change registration records, registration of illegitimate births, the duration between the date of occurrence and registration of the events (14-day period for the registration of live births and still-birth and 24 hours for the registration of deaths occurred in urban areas and 14 days for the registration of deaths occurred in rural areas), and the responsibility of registrars in the registration process According to the Act, father is the only legitimate informant for a birth registration unless it is proved that the father died. In that case, the mother of the child can report the birth to the registrar. Under this Act, it would be difficult for mothers to report the birth of their child when the father is alive but away from home Special provision is made regarding the registration of births and deaths occurred outside of the country. The Birth and Death Registration Act does not include other details of the registration procedure such as the information to be registered and the preparation of statistical report The Act is currently under revision. Organisation of the civil registration system 224. The civil registration system in Namibia is centralized and administered by the Department of Civil Affairs under the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration (MHAI). The civil services are present in all thirteen regions of the country, as Regional Office of Population Services and this has placed the ministry at the focal point in reaching out to all citizens, thus making the ministry accessible to all Namibians. Mobile registration has been put in place and has been carried out from time to time The registration is compulsory and certain rules are there to enforce the registration. For example, child needs to have birth certificate to register for school. A person also needs identification card to access public services such as hospital services, social grant, heritages, medical aids, bursaries and school loans etc. In addition, activities such as accessing bank services, making insurance claims, applying for mortgages and purchasing vehicles all require identification document, as a result requires the birth registration. Moreover, it is illegal to bury a body without a death certificate. 45

54 Technical aspects of the civil registration system Items to be completed while registering births, still-births and deaths (Annex 5) 226. Information required on the birth notification form include the date and place of birth; name, sex, legitimacy of the child; and age, place of birth, citizenship and usual residence of the parents The registration of still-births and deaths share the same form. Information required includes name, identity number, date and place of birth, sex, marital status, country of birth and usual residence of the deceased. The following information regarding the death is also collected: date and place of deaths or still-births, cause of deaths (for still-births only needs to fill in as stillbirths without identifying the underlying causes), and whether death occur in the hospital or nursing home and name of the medical practitioner or midwife. For the registration of still-births, name of the parents are also required. Coverage of the civil registration system 228. Until this date, the civil registration system in Namibia is operated manually and as a result, there is no vital statistics derived from the system. The completeness of birth and death registration was estimated to be around 75% and 70%, respectively. The estimates were obtained from two questions on the 2001 population census questionnaire whether the last live birth to a woman and household death(s) occurred in 2001 were registered. Sources of vital statistics 229. The vital statistics system in Namibia is centralized and the Central Bureau of Statistics is the responsible agency. The main sources of vital statistics in Namibia are population censuses and sample surveys. The latest population census was conducted in 2001 and questions were asked on children ever born and living, last births occurred to women and survival of the children, and household deaths occurred in the last four years. The census results were first published in 2003 and the total fertility rate, infant mortality rate and life expectancy were obtained The latest demographic survey - Namibia Intercensal Demographic Survey (NIDS) was conducted in 2006 by the Central Bureau of Statistics. Fertility and mortality questions asked in the survey were children ever born and children living. The survey used the stratified two-stage probability sample design and the sample fraction was 2.9% covering the entire country. The survey results are not available at the time this report is being prepared (2009). 48 Available online at 46

55 231. No vital statistics are compiled from the civil registration system in Namibia. The Ministry of Health and Social Services also has the responsibility of collecting data on births, foetal deaths and deaths. Unfortunately, there is no information on whether vital statistics are compiled or published. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 232. Namibia did not provide, to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, any vital statistics that were generated from its civil registration system for the year The only available data are the total number of live births, deaths and infant deaths, as well as deaths by age and sex, from either the 2001 population census or national projections. Estimate of life expectancy is available for the year (Annex 4) 233. Data on female population by age and the number children ever born is available for the 2001 Namibia census in the Demographic Yearbook. There is no data on female population by age and the number of children living. (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 234. There are three main issues related to the civil registration and vital statistics systems in Namibia. First, the civil registration coverage is incomplete. There are a number of reasons: (1) civil registration was non-compulsory for indigenous population in the country before its independence from South Africa in 1990, and therefore it is still a challenge to have registration for the entire population; (2) civil registration is also hampered by culture and custom beliefs, i.e., some tribal groups hesitate to follow the government instructions; and (3) awareness level is low among vulnerable and nomadic groups since they hardly listen to the radio or have assess to other media that are used to educate public on the importance of civil registration The second issue relates to the high proportion of late registration. Many people choose to register only if absolutely necessary, for example, for children enrolling in elementary school The third issue is connected in particular to the production of vital statistics. The civil registration is still manually operated and this contributes to the lack of vital statistics. There is also a lack of consistency in the concepts and definitions used by the civil registrar and the Central Bureau of Statistics. For example, the civil registration system still uses the old boundary districts, instead of the new demarcated regional and Constituencies boundaries currently being adopted by the Central Bureau of Statistics in its data collection activities. In addition, the current registration form does not include key statistical items such as geographical information where the vital events occur and some basic demographic characteristics. 47

56 237. To improve the coverage and reporting of vital statistics, Namibia plans to (1) conduct advocacy campaigns to raise the public awareness on the importance of civil registration; (2) increase the number of hospital registration sites and subregional offices to improve the registration coverage and increase the budget on mobile registration units to reach remote areas; (3) continue the work on automating the civil registration system, under a joint committee of multiple stakeholders; and (4) revise the registration forms so that concepts and definitions are harmonized between the Civil Registrar and the Central Bureau of Statistics. The Central Bureau of Statistics is also engaged in activities to build its institutional capacity in compiling vital statistics there are plans to revise the Statistics Act of Namibia to strengthen the coordinating role of the Bureau in producing vital statistics. The Bureau of Statistics also plans to decentralize its functions at regional levels so vital statistics can be compiled at the regional level. South Africa Development in improving civil registration (birth registration in particularly) In South Africa, the civil registration system falls under the mandate of the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), while the production and dissemination of vital statistics falls under the mandate of Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The enactment of the Birth and Death Registration Act of 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1992) was one of the first concrete steps taken towards achieving universal coverage in birth registration. The Act applied equally to all South Africans. The period given for registration was seven days and registration had to be done at one of the offices of the Department of Home Affairs by a designated officer identified in the Act as a Section 4 Officer As a result of a combination of factors (lack of awareness, remoteness of DHA offices, etc), residents of urban areas registered births more than their rural counterparts. Most of the births were registered late, at times several years after the event. The use of mobile services by the DHA contributed to making registration more accessible but the lateness in registration remained a problem. Some drastic moves needed to be made to change the situation. The Department of Home Affairs responded to this by changing legislation as appropriate and by collaborating with the Department of Health. The DHA revised their registration regulations through the Birth and Death Registration Amendment Act of 1995 (Act No. 41 of 1995) and stipulated that live births must be reported within 30 days after the birth. For births registered outside this period, progressively stricter registration requirements apply the longer the period after 30 days. Three 49 Information provided by Statistics South Africa in

57 periods are distinguished as follows: a) after 30 days but before one year, b) after one year but before 15 years and c) after 15 years Under the first democratic government, the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was introduced as a policy framework to address socioeconomic inequalities inherited in the past regime. In line with the broad RDP goals, a number of health programmes were initiated post This increased the demand for up to date information to monitor the effectiveness of these programmes. In November 1996, the task of improving birth registration was undertaken by the National Health Information System (NHIS/SA). NHIS/SA placed the collection of vital statistics as a high priority within its RDP goals. To increase awareness of birth registration at the grassroots, NHIS/SA set up vital registration committees at both the national and provincial levels. In turn, the provincial registration committees have established regional and district vital registration committees in some provinces. This network of committees is responsible for maintaining the initiatives by the DOH. These committees have diverse stakeholders including the Department of Welfare, NGO s, community-based organisations, local government, traditional leaders and traditional midwives. To promote the culture of registering births among South Africans, the provincial, regional and local committees organise regular publicity and advocacy campaigns. The campaigns take the form of meetings, workshops, posters, radio broadcasts and interactive radio educational programmes Another initiative introduced by NHIS/SA was to bring hospitals into the registration process. When registering births at health institutions, health officials now assist mothers in filling out the forms. Antenatal visits are used to educate the mothers about the benefits, requirements and procedures in registration. Registration occurs at the facility of delivery and during postnatal visits. The parents forward the completed form to the DHA. Alternatively, the officials from the DOH forward a batch of completed forms to the DHA offices or an arrangement is made that the DHA collect the forms from health institutions on a regular basis. At the DHA regional offices, Section 4 Officers check the forms for correctness before the event can be legally registered. The intervention by the Department of Health has made birth registration in South Africa more accessible to a lot of people who live in remote areas. The accessibility of hospitals and clinics has cut down on transport costs and the time spent waiting for service at the civil registration centres By working in partnership with the DHA, Statistics South Africa, the Medical Research Council and other stakeholders, NHIS/SA changed the birth registration form to incorporate fields that would facilitate health monitoring. These fields include the health facility for delivery, educational background of the parents, the mother s birth history and health status, exposure to selected risk 49

58 factors during pregnancy (smoking), congenital abnormalities of newborn babies as well as the method of delivery. Statistics South Africa, in collaboration with their provincial counterparts and the provincial vital registration committees, publishes a bi-monthly newsletter entitled Villages and Townships Vital Registration Network (VTVSN). The newsletter assists in co-ordination of activities and brings all role-players and stakeholders abreast with vital registration issues at national and provincial level. Through sharing experiences, duplication of effort and the reoccurrence of mistakes already encountered by some province are avoided. The working principle of the Network is that nothing related to improvement of vital registration is too trivial to report! 243. South Africa has experienced a remarkable improvement in birth registration resulting directly from the intervention by NHIS/SA. Total annual registrations increased by 41% from in 1996 to in This increase was observed in the face of declining fertility in South Africa. The registration statistics comprises current and late registrations. To estimate the completeness of registration within 12 months of the event, further analysis would have to be done. Legal framework for the civil registration 244. The registration of vital events in South Africa is regulated through the following Acts the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Act 51 of 1992), the Marriage Act (Act 25 of 1961), the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act (Act 120 of 1998), the Civil Union Act ( Act 17 of 2006) and the Divorce Act (Act 70 of 1979) The last amendments made to the Births and Deaths Registration Act was in The Births and Deaths Registration Act specifies definitions for live births and still-births. The Act also specifies how a registrar should be appointed, the informant for each event, requirements to change registration records, registration of illegitimate births, the duration between the date of occurrence and registration of the events (30-day period for the registration of live births and as soon as possible for the registration of still-births and deaths), and the responsibility of registrars in the registration process Special provision is made regarding the registration of births and deaths that occurred outside of the country. The Birth and Death Registration Act does not include other details of the registration procedure such as the information to be registered and the preparation of statistical report It was specified in the Births and Deaths Registration Act section 9(4) that No registration of birth shall be done of a person who dies before notice of his birth has been given in terms of subsection (9(1)). Such requirement in the Act is 50

59 certain to under-register the births occurred in the country for a specific period, hence distort the statistics on birth The Marriage Act (1961) made provision on solemnisation and registration of civil marriages. The Act specifies the authorised person who could perform marriages, witnesses required for marriage to be effective, documents needed to be presented, registration and certificates for marriages and consent required for a minor to get married. The Marriage Act is currently being reviewed by the South African Law Commission, per the request of the Department of Home Affairs Meanwhile, the recognition of Customary Marriages Act (No. 120) was approved in 1998 to make provision for recognition of customary marriages; to specify requirements for a valid customary marriage; to regulate the registration of customary marriages; to provide for the equal status and capacity of spouses in customary marriages; to regulate the proprietary consequences of customary marriages and the capacity of spouses of such marriages; and to regulate the dissolution of customary marriages The Civil Union Act (2006) was implemented in It provides for marriages of persons of the same as well as the opposite sex. This makes provision for persons who cannot enter into a valid marriage under the Marriage Act (1961) The Divorce Act regulates the law of divorce in South Africa. Provision is made for the dissolution of a marriage and the grounds for divorce; the safeguarding of interests of dependent and minor children; the division of assets; and the maintenance of parties to divorce proceedings. Organisation of the civil registration system 252. The civil registration system in South Africa is centralized. Live births, stillbirths, deaths and marriages are registered by the Department of Home Affairs and divorces are registered by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The system intends to register vital events occurred in the country as well as those occurred abroad to South African citizens. Vital events occurred abroad are registered through South African diplomatic and consular missions or can be registered at the Department of Home Affairs offices in South Africa South Africa also uses mobile trucks to reach mobile and hard-to-reach population or to a large gathering of people at a major event in the country Hospitals and health clinics are used in the country as basic registration units for the registration of births and deaths, administered by the Department of 51

60 Home Affairs. There is provision made to transfer the forms collected at the hospitals and health clinics to the Ministry of Home Affairs regularly. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Definition of vital events (per Act) 255. According to the South African Births and Deaths Registration Act (Act 51 of 1992), birth is in relation to a child, means the birth of a child born alive The term still-born, in relation to a child, means that it has had at least 26 weeks of intra-uterine existence but showed no sign of life after complete birth, and 'stillbirth', in relation to a child, has a corresponding meaning; 257. The term death is not defined in the Registration Act. Time allowed for registration 258. Live births are to be registered within 30 days after birth. For births registered outside this period, progressively stricter registration requirements apply the longer the period after 30 days. Three periods are distinguished as follows: a) after 30 days but before one year, b) after one year but before 15 years and c) after 15 years. For example for births registered after 15 years, certification of headman and a special committee approval are needed for the registration. Birth is not registered if the child dies before the registration occurs, leading to a possible and serious deficiencies in the accounts of total number of live births There is no specific time requirement to report still-births and deaths. It is however recommended that those events are to be reported as soon as practicable. Items to be completed while registering births, still-births and deaths (Annex 5) 260. Items on the birth notification form (BI-24) include information on the child name, date of birth, place of birth (city/town/country), sex, legitimacy of the child (whether parents are married at the time of birth) and date of marriage if the birth is legitimate. Information on natural father and mother collected on the form includes identity number, date of birth, place of birth and citizenship. On the other side of the form more information is collected while indicating that those are for medical and health use only. Such variables include race, education level, occupation and main activity of the parents as well as medical related variables. These include children born alive during mother s entire life, out of which are still living or dead; date of previous life birth; whether made any prenatal visit; clinical estimate of gestation; birth weight of the child; whether 52

61 the mother or the infant were transferred to a health facility; weight gained during pregnancy; risk factors associated with the pregnancy such as the use of tobacco or alcohol during pregnancy; whether the mother had hypertension, eclampsia, anaemia etc; whether the birth was vaginal or C-section; abnormal condition of the baby; and Apgar score of the baby. However, the second side of the form is not completed and therefore, no information is available on these variables Death and still birth in South Africa share the same notification form (BI- 1663). There is a place on the form indicating whether the form is for death or still birth. The form includes name, date of death, date of birth and sex of the deceased person. Marital status, place of birth, citizenship of the deceased as well as the place of occurrence and registration of the death are also included on the form. Education level, occupation and industry of the deceased are covered in the form although at later part of the form. The information and signatures of the informant, funeral undertaker and medical practitioner are required. The last section of the notification form requests information on causes of deaths The first page of the death/still birth notification form is to be completed by the registrar while the second page is on cause-of-death and needs to be filled by medical professionals (for deaths due to natural causes). For deaths occurred due to non-natural causes, forensic pathologists need to certify the death certificate. After the death notification is completed by medical professionals (Department of Health), the form is returned to the Department of Home Affairs. According to the rule, no burial is permitted unless a death certificate is issued. This rule however is not strictly followed, since death registration remain incomplete. Completeness of the civil registration system 263. The completeness of births and deaths registration was recently evaluated to be 86% (2007 assessment) and 83% (2006 assessment), respectively. The birth registration assessment is conducted by comparing recorded live birth rates to those estimated from a sample survey. Death registration completeness was estimated by using the Preston-Hill method, a method that uses information from two consecutive population censuses and the registered deaths during the inter-censal period. The completeness of marriage and divorce registration has not been evaluated in the past ten years. Sources of vital statistics 264. The vital statistics system in South Africa is centralized and Statistics South Africa is the responsible agency. The main sources of vital statistics in the country are the civil registration system, population censuses and sample surveys. 53

62 265. The civil registration system in the country collects information on live births, stillbirths, deaths, marriages and divorces: live births, stillbirths, deaths and marriages are registered by the Department of Home Affairs and divorces are registered by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. Registration records are transmitted from the civil registrar to Statistics South Africa for coding, editing, compilation and dissemination. Special attention is given to the coding and processing of deaths and stillbirths records because of the cause-of-death information associated with those records. Quality control is conducted at every stage of data processing Statistics on live births are published annually on Recorded Live Births 50 ; statistics on deaths are published annually on Mortality and Causes of Death: Findings from Death Notification 51 ; and statistics on marriages and divorces are published annually on Marriages and Divorces Population census is also used in South Africa to collect information on fertility and mortality and to evaluate the quality of the birth and death registration. The latest population census was conducted in 2001 and questions on fertility and mortality were asked on children ever born and living, orphanhood, household deaths in the last 12 months and whether they are accidental deaths or pregnancy-related. The census results were published in 2003 and the following indicators were derived from the 2001 census crude birth rate, total fertility rate, crude death rate, infant mortality rate, child mortality rate and under-five mortality rate The last two sample surveys that collected fertility and mortality statistics were the 2007 Community Survey and 2003 Demographic and Health Survey. The former was a demographic survey administered by the Statistics South Africa and the latter was a health survey, administered by the Department of Health of South Africa and ICF Macro. Both surveys used two-stage stratified sampling, covering the entire country. The 2007 Community Survey collected information on children ever born and living, orphanhood and recent household deaths; the survey report was published in The 2003 Demographic and 50 The latest issue is Recorded Live Births, 2008, available online at 51 The latest issue is Mortality and Causes of Death: Findings from Death Notification, 2007, available online at 52 The latest issue is Marriages and Divorces, 2008, available online at 53 Report available online at 54 The 2007 Community Survey results are available online at 54

63 Health Survey detailed information on birth history of women and the survey report was published in Fertility and mortality statistics obtained from the censuses and sample surveys are not completely consistent with those derived from the civil registration system. The main reason for the inconsistency is the incomplete coverage of birth and death registration in South Africa. However, it was observed that the percentage distributions by selected variables such as age, sex and province from the three sources were similar. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 270. South Africa is able to provide, to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, some basic tables on vital statistics such as live births by sex and age of mother, deaths by age and sex as well as infant deaths by sex for the period of Data are mostly up-to-date the latest available data for South Africa is 2006 for almost all tables provided. (Annex 4) 271. Total fertility rate and expectancy of life are also available for the year 2005 and 2004, respectively The two census tabulations female population by age and number children ever born and children living are not available in the Demographic Yearbook for the 2001 South African census. (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 273. Although the civil registration system and derived vital statistics in South Africa have, to a larger extend, met the need of users, there are areas that need further improvement: (1) there is late registration of vital events; (2) there is a time-lag between the occurrence of vital event and publication of statistics (an average of 2-year delay); (3) vital statistics are subject to content errors and omissions, e.g., information on education, occupation, industry, place of occurrence etc, are incomplete; (4) there is under-registration of deaths particularly among children and those in the rural areas; (5) misreporting and insufficient reporting of cause-of-death is also a problem; and (6) the administrative nature of the civil registration records does not always allow indepth analysis based on the vital statistics The following initiatives are being taken to improve the civil registration coverage in South Africa: (1) the Department of Home Affairs has, within some hospitals and clinics, created registration centres to capture more births and deaths; (2) the Department of Home Affairs uses mobile transport as registration 55 Report available online at 55

64 centers; (3) the Department of Social Development encourages mothers to register themselves and their children so that they can qualify for social grants; and (4) at provincial level, there are civil registration committees that are tasked with the responsibility of improving civil registration in the provinces To improve the quality of data from civil registration in the country, Statistics South Africa has plans to embark on an inter-sectoral initiative focusing on certification of death and accurate and complete completion of registration forms. Swaziland Legal framework for the civil registration 276. The registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in Swaziland started on 26 May 1927 and was mandatory for the European and colored population only until 1971 when the registration was extended to the entire population. Although the 1971 extension was mandatory its compulsory nature was neither implemented nor enforced The Birth, Marriages and Deaths registration Act No. 22 of 1927 was revised and replaced by the Births, Marriages and Deaths registration Act No. 5 of 1983 which was promulgated with effect form 6 January The Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Act (1983) and regulations framed in this legislative provide legal basis and describe procedures for compulsory reporting and registration of live births, still births (foetal deaths), deaths, marriages contracted according to civil rights under the Marriage Act No: 47 of 1964 and marriages solemnized according to Swazi Law and Custom or any other customary law as Zulu law, Chinese law and Muslim law etc. The act is applicable to all persons residing temporarily or permanently in both urban and rural areas of Swaziland and to the citizens of Swaziland living abroad More specifically, the Act specifies definitions for live birth, marriage and still-birth. The Act also covers how a registrar should be appointed, the informant for each event, requirements to change registration records, registration of illegitimate births, the duration between the date of occurrence and registration of the events (60-day period for the registration of live births and deaths and 7-day for the registration of still-birth), and the responsibility of registrars in the registration process Special provision is made on the registration of births and deaths occurred outside of the country. The Act does not include other details of the registration procedure such as the information to be registered and the preparation of the statistical report. 56

65 281. Regarding the registration of marriages, the Act specifies the procedures to be followed with marriages taking place under the Swazi Law or other law and customs. Organisation of the civil registration system 282. The civil registration system is centralized and administered by the Registrar General, under the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. The mandate of civil registration is now being transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Civil registration in Swaziland is compulsory but it is not enforced It is the duty of the Registrar General as well as other officers of the Births, Marriages and Deaths section to co-ordinate unified supervision and to promote efficiency to the degree necessary to satisfy both legal and statistical needs in the country Registrar General and other office staff are appointed under its section 3(1) to perform the function stated in the Act. The officers are responsible for maintaining a central registry of all vital events and for administering uniform interpretation of Laws and procedures. They are also required to stimulate improved registration of vital events by means of technical co-ordination, providing advice and assistance to the eight regional officers, fifty-five primary registration centres (called Tinkhundla centres) as well as the registration information centres, which are the lowest level units in the organisational hierarchy of registration Registration of vital events starts at the registration information centres. Clerks are employed by the Government to work on the registration at these centres. The District Registrar from each region visits the Tinkhundla centre periodically in order to collect and edit registered forms and return certificates to be issued to the public. Registration posts are also available in hospitals and health centres and are strategically located around the entire country For nationals living abroad, registration forms are available in all Trade Missions and Embassies abroad. Completed forms are sent back to the country for further processing. After processing, the certificates are dispatched back to be issued to bearers or parents. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Definition of vital events 287. According to the Swaziland Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Act (Act 5 of 1983), birth means the birth of any viable child whether such child is living or dead at the time of birth. 57

66 288. Marriage means the voluntary union between a man and a woman and intended to last for their joint lives and any reference in this Act to a marriage means a marriage whether contracted before of after the commencement of this Act and whether contracted in Swaziland or elsewhere under any law or custom; 289. The term still-born, is in relation to a child means a viable child which showed no sign of life after complete birth Births defined above include both live births as defined by the United Nations 56 and deadborn foetuses. This is not in compliances with the United Nations Recommendations. Time allowed for registration and penalty for late or non-registration 291. Every vital event is to be registered in the region or sub-region in which it occurs. In order to capture the maximum number of vital event within the prescribed time limit of sixty days, all hospitals, clinic maternity homes and other similar institutions are required under the Act to submit a monthly return of Births, Deaths and Marriages accruing therein to their designated registration offices. These provisions are intended to ensure timely reporting and compulsory registration of the events so that complete coverage of those vital events can be attained Any registration that is carried out after the sixty-day limit is considered a late registration. Provisions have been made under section 7 of the Act for the late registration of vital events by completing a late registration application indicating the reason for the delay and with the payment of a late fee equivalent to USD In case of non-reporting of vital events, a notice as prescribed under section 4 of the Act is issued to the person who is required to report the occurrence of such event within 30 days or the person becomes guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding USD15 or imprisonment. The penalty has been included to serve as a deterrent for non-reporting In case of a death occurred, a certificate of cause of death is required to be submitted without any fee along with the death information which is issued by medical practitioners who attended the deceased during his illness or before death. If the deceased is subject to an inquest, then a certificate showing the cause of death is required to be issued by the officer holding the inquest or inquiry. 56 Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Rev. 2, 2001, United Nations, New York, Para

67 295. When the cause of death is not certified by a Medical Practitioner, it has to be included on the death information form cause of death information from a short mortality list Efforts are made in order to curb down double registration involuntarily or deliberately as these errors may not be detectable by demographic analysis at a later stage. All vital events registered in Swaziland are registered only by place of occurrence to help avoiding the duplication of registration. Informants 297. The informants for a birth, according to the Act, is the father of the child in the event of the death or absence, any person present at birth or the occupier of the dwelling in which the child is born Informant for a death is an adult relative of a deceased person present at his death or in attendance during his last illness before death or at his dwelling with him. If there is no such relative, any adult person present at the death or the occupier of the dwelling in which the death occurred could report the death. Archiving 299. The archives of all civil registration records are kept regionally and summarized regional records are transported to the Registrar General. Records are retrieved manually and through micro computers. The system is currently running parallel, both manually and on computers Manually the records are arranged in alphabetical order by surnames, and arranged in sequence of computer generated numbers. Book shelves and proper furniture are in place. Separate offices from the public waiting rooms have been built in all regional offices. All registrations are hard covered for protection against sunlight The Registrar also keeps an index register of birth, death and marriage occurrences in all regional offices for the allocation of vital records in alphabetic order on the National basis. Late registration cases are entered in red ink in such indexes. The forms for information are kept at Regional offices and the duplicates of certificates of each month are filled at the Central Registry in appropriate number volumes and each duplicate of a certificate is allocated a page number. The folio number and volume are mentioned against each entry made in the index. This system is gradually being replaced by the new computerized system. Completeness of the civil registration system 59

68 302. Until 2009 when the report was prepared, the civil registration system in Swaziland is operated mainly manually and therefore, there is no vital statistics derived from the system. In terms of the completeness of the system, a question was asked in the 2007 Swaziland population census on whether the birth was registered and the results are not available at the time of preparing this report. The 2000 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of Swaziland, however, estimated that births of 53.5 percent of the children under five years of age in the country were registered. Sources of vital statistics 303. The vital statistics system in Swaziland is centralized and the Central Statistics Office is the responsible agency. The main sources of vital statistics in the country are population censuses and sample surveys. The latest population census was conducted in 2007 and questions on fertility and mortality included children ever born and living, orphanhood, live births in the last 12 months and survival of the children, household deaths in the last 12 months and whether they are pregnancy-related, and the survival of siblings (for maternal mortality). The census results are not available at the time of preparing the report (2009) The latest survey collecting fertility and mortality information is the 2006/07 Demographic and Health Survey. The survey was a national-level sample survey and was implemented by the Central Statistics Office and ICF Macro. The sample clusters were selected from a list of enumeration areas defined in the 1997 Swaziland Population and Housing Census. Questions on birth history of women as well as survival of siblings were included in the survey to obtain fertility and mortality estimates. The survey results were published in There is no vital statistics compiled from the civil registration system in Swaziland. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 306. Swaziland did not provide, to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, any vital statistics that were generated from its civil registration system for the year The only available data are the total number of live births, deaths and infant deaths, as well as deaths by age and sex for 1997, which is the year of census for Swaziland. Total fertility rate and estimate of life expectancy are also available for the year (Annex 4) 57 Survey report available online at 60

69 307. Data on female population by age and number children ever born is available for the 1997 Swaziland census in the Demographic Yearbook. There is no data on female population by age and number of children living. (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 308. There are two main issues related to the civil registration and vital statistics systems in Swaziland. First, the civil registration coverage is low. There are a number of reasons for the low coverage: (1) there is a lack of awareness of the public on the importance of civil registration; (2) civil registration is not a priority for the government and therefore there is always a lack of financial and human resources for the Registrar General to operate effectively; and (3) the staff working at the Registrar General do not take the registration function seriously and therefore leads to inefficiency and mistakes The second issue is connected to the production of vital statistics. The civil registration is still manually operated and this contributes to the lack of vital statistics. There is also a lack of manpower in the Central Statistics Office and demographic statistics does not always have priority in data collection and compilation. In addition, there is no coordination between the Registrar General and the Central Statistics Office To improve the coverage and reporting of vital statistics, Swaziland plans to (1) upgrade the Registrar General to a Departmental level agency so more governmental attention would be given to the civil registration activities; (2) provide more registration sites and improve accessibility of civil registration offices to the public; (3) start working on automating the civil registration system, and link the system to the newly initiated population registration system in the country; and (4) set up a unit of vital statistics within the Registration General to improve the compilation and reporting of vital statistics. United Republic of Tanzania 58 Legal framework for the civil registration Mainland 311. The registration of Births and Deaths in United Republic of Tanzania, Mainland is regulated through the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Chapter 108, last revised in 2002). The Act provides legal basis and describes procedures for compulsory reporting and registration of live births and deaths. According to 58 Participants from the mainland Tanzania did not participate in the workshop and information is obtained from official websites and documents available to the author at the time of drafting this report. 61

70 the Act, birth and death registration is compulsory for all persons living in Tanzania at the time that such event occurs More specifically, the Act also specifies how a registrar should be appointed, the informant for each event, requirements to change registration records, registration of illegitimate births, the duration between the date of occurrence and registration of the events (3-month for the registration of live births and 1-month for the registration of death), and the responsibility of registrars in the registration process. One section of the Act was dedicated to certifying the cause of death The Act does not include other details on the registration procedure such as the information to be registered and the preparation of a statistical report The Law of Marriage Act (Chapter 29, revised in 2002) in Tanzania mainland defines what marriage is and regulates the registration of marriages, annulments and divorces. Zanzibar 315. The registration of Births and Deaths in Zanzibar is regulated through the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Act No. 10 of 2006). The Act provides legal basis and describe procedures for compulsory reporting and registration of live births and deaths and is applicable to all persons residing temporarily or permanently in Tanzania and to the citizens of Tanzania living abroad More specifically, the Act specifies definitions for live birth and still-birth (although the registration of still-birth is not covered in the Act). The Act also specifies how a registrar should be appointed, the informant for each event, requirements to change registration records, registration of illegitimate births, the duration between the date of occurrence and registration of the events (42- day period for the registration of live births and 7-day for the registration of death), and the responsibility of registrars in the registration process The Act does not include other details of the registration procedure such as the information to be registered and the preparation of a statistical report. Organisation of the civil registration system Mainland 318. The civil registration system in mainland Tanzania is centralized and is administered by the Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA), which is an Executive Agency under the Attorney Generals Chambers in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. RITA not only registers key life 62

71 events, but is also in charge of bankruptcy filing and estate management for deceased persons RITA has 132 employees, of which 93 located in headquarter and 39 in district offices. The Agency does not have its own staff at district level, but mainly relies on and/or works in collaboration with District and Regional Authorities for work at lower level. Zanzibar 320. The civil registration system in Zanzibar is administered by the Office of Registrar General, under the Ministry of State Constitutional Affairs and Good Governance. The Office of the Registrar General was established in 1985 and it was previously known as the Office of the Administrator General. The office handles matters related to registrations of births, deaths, marriages and divorces as well as the registration of companies and intellectual properties Local registration units include health offices for birth and death registration and court office or priest/ministers for marriage and divorce registration The duties of the local registrars include recording vital events and safekeeping of the records; celebrating marriages; issuing burial permits; and promoting better registration coverage. Local registrars also report civil registration data to higher level offices Meanwhile, the local registrars receive copies of current laws and regulations and updated handbooks and instructions on civil registration. Inservice training is also provided to local registrars to improve the coverage and quality of civil registration. Technical and administrative supervision is provided by registration authorities from the national agencies through field visits. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Mainland Items covered in the registration (Annex 5) 324. Birth notification form for births that are registered on time, i.e., within 3 months is not available for the study. However, late registration forms (BD15 and BD15A) are available online and request information on sex, date and place of birth of the child; as well as the age, usual residence, occupation and citizenship of the parents. 63

72 325. For death registration, information on the name, age, sex, residence, occupation, nationality (citizenship) of deceased is required. The date and place of death as well as the cause of death are also covered on the form (BD6) Information required to register a marriage includes the date of marriage, age and usual residence of the bride and groom. Whether the marriage is monogamous or polygamous is also asked on the form (RGM7). Procedures to register live births 327. All births occurred in hospitals, health centres and dispensaries receive a copy of birth notification automatically. For those occurred at home, a notification will be provided by Village Executive Officer or the District Registrar of Births and Deaths. The birth notification is then submitted to the District Registrar for registration. A payment fee of 3500 Tanzanian shilling (TZS, 1 TZS is equivalent of USD0.007 in 2009) is required to register a birth on time (within 3 months after birth occurred) For late birth registration, more supporting documents are required. They are, for example, clinic card, Baptismal certificate, letter from relevant government authorities and etc. The fee is higher to register than on-time registration 4000 TZS for children registered between three months and 10 years after births occurred and TZS for children registered 10 years after the births occurred. Procedures to register deaths 329. All deaths occurred in hospitals, health centres and dispensaries receive a burial permit automatically. For those occurred at home, the permit will be provided by Village Executive Officer or the District Registrar of Births and Deaths. The burial permit is then submitted to the District Registrar for registration. For deaths registered on time (within 30 days), the fee to register is 3500 Tanzanian shilling (TZS) For late death registration, more supporting documents are required. They are, for example, minutes of the family meeting and letter from relevant government authorities such as Ward Executive Officer and Village executive officer to prove the occurrence of death. The fee is higher to register than on-time registration 4000 TZS for deaths registered between 30 days and 10 years after deaths occurred and TZS for deaths registered 10 years after the events occurred. Completeness of the civil registration system 64

73 331. There is no information from the United Republic of Tanzania official publication or websites on the coverage of its civil registration system. The Tanzania HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey estimated that the underfive birth registration is 20% for mainland Tanzania, while the coverage is 46% and 15% for urban and rural area, respectively. 59 Zanzibar Items covered in the registration (Annex 5) 332. The birth notification form included items on the child such as date of birth, sex, type of birth (whether single, twins or triplets and above), whether the child was born alive or dead and place of birth. Information on the parents is also requested and they include the name, citizenship, place of birth, usual residence of the parents. Age and marital status of the mother are also required The death notification form includes the information on the sex, age and citizenship of the deceased; date and place of death; and cause of death Currently the computerization process of the registered births and deaths records is underway and records registered between 2005 and 2007 are mostly in electronic format. Completeness of the civil registration system 335. The coverage of birth registration in Zanzibar is around 90% and the coverage of death registration is about 50%. The assessment was conducted in 1996, using the dual record method. A similar birth coverage estimated at 90% was also provided by the Tanzania HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey. 59 Sources of vital statistics 336. The vital statistics system in Tanzania is centralized and the National Bureau of Statistics (under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs) is the responsible agency for the mainland and the Office of the Chief Government Statistician (under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs) is the responsible agency for Zanzibar The main sources of vital statistics in the United Republic of Tanzania are population censuses and sample surveys. The latest population census was conducted in 2002 and questions on fertility and mortality included children ever born and living, orphanhood, live births in the last 12 months, and household 59 For more information, please refer to the complete survey report at 65

74 deaths occurred in the last 12 months. Detailed fertility and mortality indicators derived from the 2002 population census are published in 2006 on the Analytical Report, Volume X The latest survey in Tanzania collecting fertility and mortality information was the 2007/08 HIV/AIDS and Malaria Indicator Survey. The survey was a national-level sample survey and was implemented by the Tanzania Commission for AIDS, Zanzibar AIDS Commission, National Bureau of Statistics of Tanzania, Office of the Chief Government Statistician Zanzibar as well as ICF Macro International. Questions on birth history of women were included in the survey to obtain fertility and mortality estimates. The survey results were published in The civil registration system in mainland Tanzania has a low coverage and it is not clear whether the system produces any vital statistics The coverage of birth registration in Zanzibar is complete ( 90%) but there is no vital statistics compiled from the system. From the 1980s until early 2000, efforts have been made to improve the civil registration system, by the government as well as by outside donors. As a result, the coverage of civil registration has improved. Unfortunately the linkage of civil registration and vital statistics did not benefit from the numerous projects. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 341. United Republic of Tanzania did not provide to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook any vital statistics for the period (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans Zanzibar 342. There are two main issues related to the civil registration and vital statistics systems in Zanzibar. First, the civil registration coverage needs to be improved. There are a number of reasons for the incomplete coverage: (1) there is a lack of awareness of the public on the importance of civil registration; (2) civil registration is not a priority for the government and therefore there is always lack of financial and human resources for the Registrar to operate effectively; (3) there is not enough knowledge on the monitoring and evaluation of the 60 The publication is available online at 61 Survey report available online at 66

75 registration system; and (4) there is no coordination between the Registrar and the Statistics Office The second issue is connected to the production of vital statistics. There is a lack of manpower in the Statistics Office and vital statistics does not always have priority among all data collection and compilation activities To improve the coverage and reporting of vital statistics, Zanzibar plans to (1) provide trainings to local and district registrars as well as to statisticians in the Office of the Chief Government Statistician; (2) establish a vital statistics unit within the social and demographic statistics section to focus on the processing and production of vital statistics; and (3) working with UNFPA in a three-year project to strengthen both the civil registration and the vital statistics system, including establishing an electronic network for information sharing. Zambia Legal framework for the civil registration 345. The registration of births and deaths in Zambia is regulated through the Births and Deaths Registration Act (chapter 51), which came into effect on 14 March The Act provides a uniform law for registration of all births and deaths in the country without distinction of origin or descent. The Act was last amended in 1994 (Act No 13) More detailed rulings on how registration should be done are covered in the Births and Deaths Registration Districts Order. The Order includes what to register, prescribed forms for the registration, and guidance provided to complete the forms. The Order also specifies how a registrar should be appointed, the informant for each event, requirements to change registration records, registration of illegitimate births, the duration between the date of occurrence and registration of the events (30-day period for the registration of live births, still-births and deaths), and the responsibility of registrars in the registration process It is also specified that the registration of birth/death is free of charge if completed within one month after the event occurs. Organisation of the civil registration system 348. The civil registration system in Zambia is centralized and is administered by the Department of National Registration, Passport and Citizenship (under the Ministry of Home Affairs). The registration has becoming compulsory for everyone in the country since 1973 and the system registers births, still births, deaths and marriages. The registration is conducted by regional offices 67

76 (decentralized registration) while the issuance of certificate is only carried out by the central registration office at the national level Ministry of Health is also involved in the registration births occurred in the hospital and health institutions are provided with a Record of Birth or an Under-Five Children s Card for the registration of birth. For deaths occurred in the hospital, cause-of-death information is completed by the hospital. For deaths occurred outside of the hospital, either a police report or a letter from the local headman or chief is necessary for the registration. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Items covered in the registration 350. Items on the birth notification form (Reg-Gen Form No. 14) include information on the child name, date and place of birth, sex, legitimacy of the child (whether parents are married while giving birth) and date of marriage. Information on natural father and mother collected on the form includes identity number and nationality. IOccupation of father is also collected. Date of registration is covered as well. It was indicated in the Births and Deaths Registration Districts Order (mentioned under the Legal Framework for Zambia) that another form (Reg-Gen Form No. 2) is used to collect information relevant for statistical purposes. Unfortunately this form is not available Still-birth notification form (Reg-Gen Form No. 15) collects information on the sex and date of the still-birth, cause of death, nationality of both parents, and occupation of the father Death notification form (Reg-Gen Form No. 22) collects information on the date and place of death, nationality, age, sex and occupation of the deceased as well as the date of registration. It was indicated in the Births and Deaths Registration Districts Order that a medical form is required to register the death. Presumably the medical form covers the information on cause of death, unfortunately the form is not available for the study. Procedures to register births, deaths and marriages 353. For the registration of live births, parents or guardians need to complete the Notice of Birth (Reg-Gen Form No. 14) at their respective districts. If the birth was born at the hospital or a clinic, a record of Birth or an Under-Five Children s Card is attached to the notice of birth. The two above documents are submitted to the Registrar of Birth at the local authority in the District where the child was born. The Registrar enters the birth in the system and assigns a serial number as a means of reference. The form is endorsed with the Registrar s signature and official stamp. The Registrar forwards the registration documents 68

77 to the Registrar General for issuance of a birth certificate. Note that birth certificate can only be issued by the Registrar General If the birth occurred at home, an Under-Five Children s Card can be obtained from the nearest health centre within one month of the child s birth. In the absence of the birth card or the Under-Five Children s Card, an Affidavit Form M may be used for the purpose of birth registration The time allowed for birth registration is one month The registration of death, just as the birth registration, is completed at district level. If the death occurred in a hospital or a clinic, a medical practitioner needs to certify the medical form and state the cause of death on the form. If the death occurred outside the hospital, a police report or a letter from the chief or headman has to be attached for the registration. It is required that all deaths have to be reported within 24 hours of their occurrences. Although death can be registered at the district where death occurs, death certificate is only issued by the Registrar General. Completeness of the civil registration system 357. The civil registration system in Zambia is operated manually and there is no vital statistics derived from the system. The completeness of birth was estimated to be around 10% from a recent survey on birth registration. Sources of vital statistics 358. The vital statistics system in Zambia is centralized and the Central Statistics Office is the responsible agency. Main sources of vital statistics in the country are population censuses and sample surveys. The latest population census was conducted in 2000 and questions on fertility and mortality included children ever born and living, as well as births in the last 12 months and survival of the children. The census results were first published in 2003 and total fertility rate, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate, crude death rate and life expectancy were obtained The latest survey collecting fertility and mortality information of Zambia was the 2007 Demographic and Health Survey. The survey was a national-level sample survey (0.13%) and was implemented by the Central Statistics Office and ICF Macro International. Questions on birth history of women as well as survival 62 Census results available online at 69

78 of siblings were included in the survey to obtain fertility and mortality estimates. The preliminary results were published in The civil registration system in Zambia is manually operated and there is no established linkage between the Department of National Registration, Passport and Citizenship (civil registrar in Zambia) and the Central Statistics Office. As a result there is no vital statistics compiled from the system. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 361. Zambia did not provide, to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, any vital statistics that were generated from its civil registration system for the period The only available data are the total number of live births and deaths for 2006, based on national projections. (Annex 4) 362. Data on female population by age and number of children living is available for the 2000 Zambia census in the Demographic Yearbook. There is no data on female population by age and number of children ever-born. (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 363. There are two main issues related to the civil registration and vital statistics systems in Zambia. First, the civil registration coverage is low. There are a number of reasons for the low coverage: (1) it is difficult to register the entire population, especially for people living in villages and rural areas where there is no formal system of registration; and (2) awareness level is low among the public people do not understand the value of obtaining birth and death certificates due to lack of sensitization The second issue is connected in particular to the production of vital statistics. The civil registration is still manually operated and this contributes partly to the lack of vital statistics. There is also a delay in the transmission of registration forms from local to the national registration office and thereafter to the Central Statistics Office for processing. In addition, there is no legal basis of the information transfer between the Registrar and the Statistics Office. Lack of human resources in the Statistics Office for the compilation and production of vital statistics is also a challenge inadequate number of staff and lack of trainings are the two contributing factors To improve the quality and reporting level of vital statistics, Zambia plans to (1) provide more registration sites in villages to improve registration coverage; (2) revise the birth registration form to start collecting more detailed information related to births; (3) decentralize the function of certificate issuance so people 63 Report available online at 70

79 would receive the certificate following the registration; and (4) start involving the traditional leaders in the registration process The Central Statistics Office, in collaboration with other stakeholders, also starts to implement the Sample Vital Registration with Verbal Autopsy (SAVVY). The SAVVY is not to replace the current registration system, but to support and strengthen the reporting, recording, analysis and dissemination of vital statistics, in particular on births and deaths. When implemented, SAVVY can provide nationally representative vital statistics, including information on levels and causes of death which are not available from other sources. Zimbabwe Legal framework for the civil registration 367. Compulsory civil registration for non-africans started in 1904 in Zimbabwe. It was until 1986 that civil registration becomes compulsory for everyone living in the country. Currently the following Acts regulate the civil registration in Zimbabwe: Births and Deaths Registration Act (last updated in 2005); Marriage Act (last updated in 2004); Customary Marriage Act (last updated in 2004); and Matrimonial Causes Act (last updated in 2000) The Births and Deaths Registration Act specifies definitions for still-births. The Act also specifies how a registrar should be appointed, the informant for each event, requirements to change registration records, registration of illegitimate births, time allowed between the date of occurrence and registration of the events (42-day period for the registration of live births and as soon as possible and at most 30 days for the registration of still-births and deaths), as well as the responsibility of registrars in the registration process Special provision is made on the registration of births and deaths occurred outside of the country. The Births and Deaths Registration Act does not include other details of the registration procedure such as the information to be registered and the preparation of a statistical report The Marriage Act contains a section devoted to the registration of marriages. It covers information on how the registrar is appointed, what procedures to following to register a marriage and the registrar s responsibilities The Matrimonial Causes Act contains provisions for matters such as division of assets, custody of children and so on. There is no provision on the registration of divorces in the Act. Organisation of the civil registration system 71

80 372. The civil registration system in Zimbabwe is centralized and administered by the Registrar General s Department (under the Ministry of Home Affairs). The births and deaths registration is compulsory in the country. The registration of marriages is not compulsory At local level, the registration of births, still-births and deaths is conducted by health offices while the registration of marriages and divorces is taken care by the court offices. Registration is also carried out at the district level and the information is then sent to the Registrar General Responsibilities of local civil registrars include recording vital events and safekeeping of the records; issuing certified copies of civil registration records; issuing burial permits; promoting complete registration of vital events; and reporting civil registration data to higher level offices To proceed with well-functioning registration, local registration offices are provided with copies of current laws and regulations as well as updated handbooks or instructions on civil registration. Staff working at the local level also receives regular in-service training and advice from higher level civil registration authorities. Technical and administrative supervision is provided by district and national registration authorities. Technical aspects of the civil registration system Procedures to register birth 376. For births occurred in the hospital, the following documents are necessary to be registered: parents identity cards, marriage certificate (for born-in-wedlock child), and birth confirmation record from the hospital. For births occurred outside of the hospital, a baptismal certificate or a statement from one witness (preferable midwife) could be used instead of the birth confirmation record issued by the hospital. There is no fee to register children under 6 years of age. The processing time is one day to register a birth occurred within the same district where the parent(s) resides, while it takes 6 weeks to register a birth occurred in a different district where the parent(s) resides. Completeness of the civil registration system 377. The 2005/06 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey estimated that 37% of the children 5 years and under have a birth certificate, while additional 36% of the births were indicated as registered but did not have a birth certificate. There is no other information on the completeness of the civil registration system in Zimbabwe. Sources of vital statistics 72

81 378. The vital statistics system in Zimbabwe is centralized and the Central Statistical Office (CSO, within the Ministry of Finance) is the responsible agency. Main sources of vital statistics in the country are population censuses and sample surveys. The latest population census was conducted in Fertility and mortality questions included children ever born and living, age at first marriage, last births occurred to women and their survival, as well as household deaths occurred in the last 12 months and whether they are pregnancy-related. The census results were published in 2004 and general fertility rate, total fertility rate, crude birth rate, infant mortality rate, crude death rate and maternal mortality rate were obtained The latest survey collecting fertility and mortality information of Zimbabwe was the 2005/06 Demographic and Health Survey. The survey was a national-level sample survey and was implemented by the Central Statistics Office and ICF Macro International. Questions on birth history of women as well as survival of siblings were included in the survey to obtain fertility and mortality estimates. The survey report was published in Mortality statistics based on the civil registration system in the country are also produced by CSO. In order to facilitate the fast and easy access of registration records, staff members responsible for vital statistics (administratively under CSO) are housed at the Registrar General s Department. Eue to lack of resources only mortality statistics are compiled at the time the report was prepared. There is also a backlog in data processing 2002 mortality data are being published in Comparison across different data sources is not possible because of the differences in coverage. Availability of vital statistics based the Demographic Yearbook reporting ( ) 381. Zimbabwe did not provide, to the United Nations Demographic Yearbook, any vital statistics that were generated from its civil registration system for the period The only available data are the total number of live births, total deaths, births by sex, as well as deaths by age and sex for 2002, which is the year of census for Zimbabwe. Total fertility rate and estimate of life expectancy are also available. (Annex 4) 382. The two census tabulations female population by age and number children ever born and children living are not available in the Demographic Yearbook for the 2002 Zimbabwe census. (Annex 4) Difficulties and future plans 64 The report is available online at 73

82 383. There are two main issues related to the civil registration and vital statistics systems in Zimbabwe. First, the civil registration coverage is not functioning well. There are a number of reasons: (1) it is a challenge to have registration for the entire population. Especially for those live in remote areas; (2) some sub-offices under the Registrar General s Department are not operational and people living in surrounding areas have to travel long distances to register or wait for the national mobile registration trucks to reach the area; and (3) there is a lack of resources both financially and manpower, due to the political and financial difficulties in the country. Staff turnover is also very high The second issue is connected to the production of vital statistics. The civil registration is still manually operated and this contributes to the lack of vital statistics. There is also a delay in transferring registration forms from local to the national registration office and thereafter to the Central Statistics Office for processing. Resource constraints also contributed to the delay of the vital statistics production To improve the quality and reporting of vital statistics, Zimbabwe plans to (1) work with the help of UNFPA (a project started in 2008) to secure storage space for the filing of death forms and to clear the un-processed mortality data by adding ten more posts on the coding of deaths record; (2) further decentralize the birth registration by establishing offices at major hospitals that offer maternity services to encourage early registration; (3) adopt the ICD10 for the cause of death coding rather than the ICD9, which is currently being used; and (4) continue the current project that computerizes the civil registration system and once it is completed, CSO will be receiving mortality data electronically. Administratively, the Central Statistical Office is becoming a semi-autonomous agency and hopefully this would entail more statistical posts in the agency. 74

83 Annex 1. Pre-workshop assignments for civil registrars Pre-workshop assignment 1 Review and assessment of the national civil registration system The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect information on the organizational and technical aspects of the national civil registration system. The questionnaire also assesses the state of the development and methods of evaluation in the civil registration system. Please return the completed questionnaire before 14 November 2008 at the following address by if possible or by fax: Att. Ms. Haoyi Chen 2, UN Plaza DC New York, NY, USA Tel Fax chen9@un.org Please provide detailed answers to the questions. When necessary, please attach additional sheets of paper. Name, title, address and country of official completing this questionnaire: 75

84 PART I: LEGAL AND ORGANISATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE CIVIL REGISTRATION SYSTEM 1. Is there a legal framework providing guidelines concerning how the civil registration system works? Yes No a. If Yes, please provide us with a copy of the law. 2. Which of the following best describe the type of civil registration organization currently in operation in your country? a national system with a central office to administer the system a national system with different governmental departments to administer the registration of vital events The country has separate systems of registration in each major administrative division (e.g., province or state level) with a central office at those levels to administer the system) Other arrangements (specify) 3. At national level, which agency has the primary responsibility for the registration of the vital events: Vital events Live births Agency primarily responsible for registration Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces 4. Is there a coordination agency or inter-agency coordination committee at national level, for needs and services among different agencies dealing with civil registration? Yes No If Yes, provide the name and main responsibility. 5. Location of the primary registration units? (Check applicable items) Births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces 76

85 a) Municipal offices b) Health offices c) Revenue offices d) Court offices e) Parishes/temples f) Population registers g) Other, specify 6. Are there secondary registration units in certain hospitals, clinics, or religious places ( e.g., churches, temples) or other public places to supplement the registration network?. Include subsidiary registration places for marriages and divorces. Yes No 7. Which of the following perform the functions of the local civil registrars in your country? (Local civil registrars are the persons authorized by law to record vital events and civil status). Check applicable items: a) Appointed civil registrars b) Priests, ministers c) Court clerks d) Notaries e) Justices of peace f) Teachers g) Other, specify Births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces 8. Main duties and responsibilities of the local civil registrars as specified by civil registration law and regulations. Check applicable items. a. With respect to registration: Recording vital and civil status events and safekeeping of the records Issuing certified copies of civil registration records Celebrating marriages Issuing burial permits Promotion of registration completeness 77

86 Other, specify: b. With respect to vital statistics collection and reporting: Reporting civil registration data to higher level offices Other, specify: 9. Do local civil registrars receive guidance for their work? Check applicable items. Copies of current laws and regulations on civil registration Updated handbooks or instructions on civil registration Handbooks on vital statistics reporting In service training Direct advice by higher level civil registration authorities through field visits Periodical bulletin of information concerning civil registration and vital statistics Circulars regarding procedures for civil registration Other, specify: 10. Technical supervision to local civil registrars work is provided by: (Check applicable items) Registration authorities from the National Agency (field visits from central office staff) Regional Registration authorities Judicial authorities vested with responsibility for the custody of the records The Mayor The Priest or Minister The local government authority Other, specify: 11. Administrative supervision to local civil registrars work is provided by: (Check applicable items) Registration authorities from the National Agency (field visits from central office staff) Regional Registration authorities Judicial authorities vested with responsibility for the custody of the records The Mayor The Priest or Minister The local government authority Other, specify 78

87 12. Which national agency and ministry are responsible for compiling vital statistics from civil registration? Agency Ministry 13. By what means are vital events transmitted to the compiling office? Live births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces Individual/collective Pre printed forms Summary reports Computer tapes or diskettes Computer transmission (ATTACH A DATA FLOW CHART) PART II: TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE CIVIL REGISTRATION SYSTEM Please provide a complete set of forms used for legal and statistical recording of all types of vital events. PART III: EVALUATION OF COMPLETENESS AND QUALITY OF THE CIVIL REGISTRATION SYSTEM 1. Does the civil registration system cover all segments of the population in the entire country? Yes No If NO, please give a brief description of the coverage: a) Which geographic areas are not covered? Why? 79

88 b) Which population groups (ethnic or national groups) are not covered? Why? c) Any other categories that are not covered? Why? 2. Indicate if the registration coverage of vital events has been estimated in your country in the past ten years? Yes No Live births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces 3. If YES for at least one event, indicate the most recent estimate of coverage for each event, the year to which this estimate refers and the method of evaluation used. a. Level of coverage and year of reference Live births Foetal Deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces Percentage of coverage Year to which this estimate refers b. Method of assessment Live births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces 80

89 Through retrospective questions in population census(es) Through a follow up survey Not applicable Through retrospective questions in a single round retrospective survey Through a maternity history in a single round retrospective survey Through a dual-records system Other (specify) Not applicable Not applicable 81

90 Pre-workshop assignment 2 Please address the following items: Does your office compile vital statistics from the civil registration system? If yes, briefly describe what are being compiled. What are the factors that hamper the production of vital statistics from civil registration in your country? Are there any plans to improve the civil registration and vital statistics system in your country? Please return the completed report before 14 November 2008 at the following address by if possible or by fax: Att. Ms. Haoyi Chen 2, UN Plaza DC New York, NY, USA Tel Fax chen9@un.org 82

91 Annex 2. Pre-workshop assignments for statisticians Pre-workshop assignment 1 - Review of sources and methods for vital statistics The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect information on the sources and methods for obtaining vital statistics used in your country. Please return the completed questionnaire before 14 November 2008 at the following address by if possible or by fax: Att. Ms. Haoyi Chen 2, UN Plaza DC New York, NY, USA Tel Fax chen9@un.org Please provide detailed answers to the questions. When necessary, please attach additional sheets of paper. Name, title, address and country of official completing this questionnaire: PART I: SUMMARY INFORMATION ON VITAL STATISTICS 1. Is there a legal framework defining responsibilities for the collection, processing and dissemination of vital statistics? Yes No a. If Yes, which agency has the primary responsibility for the: Agency primarily responsible for Vital events Collection of data Processing and dissemination of data Live births 83

92 Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces b. If Yes, please provide us with a copy of the law. 2. Which of the following best describe the type of organizational structure for the collection, processing and dissemination of vital statistics? a centralized system at the national level a decentralized system in each state or province or any other major division of the country The head office of the population register is in charge of the vital statistics Other arrangements (specify) Vital statistics are not compiled 3. Indicate the source(s) of data currently used to obtain vital statistics on: a) Civil registration b) Population Censuses c) Sample surveys d) Dual record system e) Other (please specify) Births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces 4. Indicate if current available vital statistics are obtained from multiple data sources, if these statistics are coherent and if not explain why. 84

93 5. Please specify the definitions of vital events adopted in your country. Live birth Foetal death Death Marriage Divorce 85

94 PART II: DATA SOURCES IN DETAIL A Civil registration: 1. Does a civil registration system exist in your country? Yes No 2. If YES, what event does the civil registration register cover? Yes No Live births Feotal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces If you replied YES to at least one event, please answer to questions 3 to 18, otherwise go to section B Sample Surveys. 3. Which national agency and ministry are responsible for civil registration? Agency Ministry 4. Is civil registration used as a source for statistics on: Yes No Fertility Foetal mortality Mortality Marriages Divorces If YES to at least one of the event, please answer to questions 8 to 15, otherwise go to section B Sample surveys. 5. Which national agency and ministry are responsible for compiling vital statistics from civil registration? Agency Ministry 6. By what means are vital events transmitted to the compiling office? 86

95 Live births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces Individual/collective Pre printed forms Summary reports Computer tapes or diskettes Computer transmission (ATTACH A DATA FLOW CHART) 7. Are vital rates calculated from civil registration data on vital events? Yes No Live births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces If YES, a. Please indicate the source used for the most recent population estimates used as denominator in the computation of current vital rates: Continuous population register Population census (give year) Sample survey (give year) Other, specify b. Please indicate the technique used for the time adjustment in the population estimate (when the base data is not secured annually by a population register): Interpolation Extrapolation Demographic equation Other, specify 87

96 8. Indicate if vital statistics are published, their frequency and the title of the last publication containing these statistics? Published Frequency Title Fertility Foetal mortality Mortality Marriages Divorces 9. Are data on vital events tabulated by date of occurrence or/and registration? Live births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces Date of occurrence Date of registration 10. Are data on vital events tabulated by place of occurrence or/and place of registration? Live births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces Place of occurrence Place of registration 11. Is the information on place of usual residence (of mother for births and foetal deaths and of deceased for deaths) registered? Yes No Live births Foetal deaths Deaths a. If YES to at least one event, is this information used in the calculation of vital rates? Yes No 88

97 12. Indicate the level of accuracy of reporting of age of mother in case of Live births and of the deceased in case of Deaths and specify if any study to evaluate the age quality have been carried out. Age of mother Age of deceased 13. List vital statistics obtained from civil registration (use additional sheets if necessary). 14. Indicate if the registration coverage of vital events has been estimated in your country in the past ten years? Live births Foetal deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces 89

98 Yes No 15. If YES for at least one event, indicate the most recent estimate of coverage for each event, the year to which this estimate refers and the method of evaluation used. c. Level of coverage and year of reference Live births Foetal Deaths Deaths Marriages Divorces Percentage of coverage Year to which this estimate refers d. Method of assessment Through retrospective questions in population census(es) Through a follow up survey Live births Foetal deaths Not applicable Deaths Marriages Divorces Through retrospective questions in a single round retrospective survey Through a maternity history in a single round retrospective survey Through a dual-records system Other (specify) Not applicable Not applicable B Sample surveys: 1. Have sample surveys been undertaken to obtain fertility and mortality statistics in the last 10 years? Yes Fertility Mortality 90

99 No If YES, please indicate the number of surveys conducted in the last 10 years and provide the following information for the last two surveys. 2. Title of survey 3. Date 4. Coverage: a. Geographic areas b. Population 5. Sample fraction percentage: 6. Type of operation a. Single-round survey b. Multi-round survey c. Sample survey combined with continuous registration (dual record system) 7. Method of sampling Survey 1 Survey 2 8. Is this a specialized survey on fertility and mortality? Yes No If No, what are the other topics covered in the survey? 9. Provide a list of fertility and mortality statistics obtained from the surveys: Survey 1 Survey 2 Fertility statistics 91

100 Mortality statistics 10. Have these estimates be evaluated? Yes No a. If Yes, how? Survey 1 Survey 2 Fertility statistics Mortality statistics 11. What are the technique(s) used to obtain estimates: Survey 1 Survey 2 a. Reverse Survival b. Own Children Method c. Reconstructed Birth Histories d. Children Ever Born e. Recent Births f. Birth Histories g. Survival of Children ever born h. Birth Histories i. Recent Household Deaths j. Survival of Parents k. Survival of Siblings l. Others, specify 12. Indicate if age accuracy has been evaluated and which techniques have been used. Survey 1 Survey 2 92

101 13. Have results from these surveys been published? Yes No a. If Yes, provide dates the results were published. Survey 1 Survey 2 Published dates 14. Indicate the name of institution responsible for the collection, processing of data and dissemination of results. Survey 1 Survey Please provide us the relevant sections of the questionnaires used. C - POPULATION CENSUSES: 1. Have population censuses been used to obtain fertility and mortality estimates? Yes No Fertility Mortality If YES, please provide date of latest census used to collect such information and answer questions 2 to 7 below: Census date Fertility Mortality 2. Provide a list of fertility and mortality statistics obtained from the census: Fertility statistics Mortality statistics 3. Have these estimates be evaluated? Yes No 93

102 a. If Yes, how? Fertility statistics Mortality statistics 4. Select the technique(s) used to obtain estimates: Fertility Reverse Survival Own Children Method Reconstructed Birth Histories Children Ever Born Recent Births Birth Histories Mortality Survival of Children ever born Birth Histories Recent Household Deaths Survival of Parents Survival of Siblings 5. Indicate if age accuracy has been evaluated and which techniques have been used. 6. Have results from the census been published? Yes No a. If Yes, provide dates the results were published. Published dates 7. Indicate the name of institution responsible for the collection, processing of data and dissemination of results. 8. Please, provide us the relevant sections of the questionnaire. 94

103 95

104 Pre-workshop assignment 2 Please address the following items: Do current available vital statistics satisfy users needs? If not, explain why. What are the factors that hamper the production of vital statistics from civil registration in your country? Are there any plans to improve the civil registration and vital statistics system in your country? Please return the completed report before 14 November 2008 at the following address by if possible or by fax: Att. Ms. Haoyi Chen 2, UN Plaza DC New York, NY, USA Tel Fax chen9@un.org 96

105 Annex 3. Organization of civil registration and vital statistics systems Country Civil registration administration Vital statistics dissemination agency Botswana Department of Civil and National Registration Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs Central Statistics Office Ministry of Finance and Development Democratic Republic of Congo Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia South Africa Ministry of Home Affairs Births and deaths: Office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths Ministry of Local Government Marriages and divorces: Registrar General s Office Ministry of Law and Constitutional Affairs Births, deaths and marriages: Ministry of Interior Divorces: Ministry of Justice National Registration Bureau Office of President and Cabinet Births, deaths and marriages: Central Civil Status Office, Office of the Prime Minister Divorces: Supreme Court of Mauritius National Directorate of Registries and Notary Ministry of Justice Department of Civil Affairs Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration Births, deaths and marriages: Department of Home Affairs Bureau of Statistics Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Institut National de la Statistique National Statistics Office Central Statistics Office Ministry of Finance and Economic Empowerment National Institute of Statistics Central Bureau of Statistics Statistics South Africa Divorces: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Swaziland Registrar General Ministry of Home Affairs United Republic of Tanzania Mainland Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Central Statistics Office National Bureau of Statistics Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Zanzibar Office of Registrar General Office of the Chief Government Statistician 97

106 Zambia Zimbabwe Ministry of State Constitutional Affairs and Good Governance Department of National Registration, Passport and Citizenship Ministry of Home Affairs Registrar General s Department Ministry of Home Affairs Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Central Statistics Office Central Statistics Office Ministry of Finance 98

107 Zimbabwe Zambia United Republic of Tanzania Swaziland South Africa Namibia Mozambique Mauritius Malawi Madagascar Lesotho DRC Botswana Annex 4. Data reported to Demographic Yearbook vital statistics tables for the period of ; among those that reported, latest available year List of tables Live births Total number of live births 2001 a 2006 a a 2001 b b 2006 a 2002 b Live births by sex 1997 a a 2001 b b Live births by marital status of mother 2006 Live births by month of birth Live births by sex and age of mother b 2006 Live births by age of father Live births by birth order 2006 Live births by birth order and age of mother 2006 Live births by duration of marriage 1997 Live births by birth weight Live births by gestational age Live births by type of birth 2006 Total fertility rate a b 2005 Deaths Total number of deaths 2001 b 2006 a a 2006 a b 2006 a 2002 b Deaths by sex 2001 b 1998 b a 2006 a b 2002 b Deaths by age and sex 2001 b 1998 b b 2001 b b 2002 b Deaths by age, sex and 2006

108 Zimbabwe Zambia United Republic of Tanzania Swaziland South Africa Namibia Mozambique Mauritius Malawi Madagascar Lesotho DRC Botswana List of tables marital status Deaths by month of death Deaths by occupation Deaths by cause of death Infant deaths Total number of infant deaths 2001 b 1998 b a b Infant deaths by sex 1998 b a 2006 Infant deaths by age and sex Infant deaths by month of death Foetal deaths Total number of late foetal deaths Late foetal deaths by sex Late foetal deaths by age of mother 2006 Late foetal deaths by age of mother and birth order 2006 Foetal deaths by gestational age Legally induced abortions 1998 Expectation of life at specified age 1999 a b b 2002 b Marriages Total number of marriages Marriages by month of

109 Zimbabwe Zambia United Republic of Tanzania Swaziland South Africa Namibia Mozambique Mauritius Malawi Madagascar Lesotho DRC Botswana List of tables marriage Marriages by age of groom and bride Marriages by marital status of groom and bride First marriages by age of groom and bride Marriages by age and previous marital status of groom/bride 2006 Divorces Total number of divorces Divorces by age of husband and wife Divorces by duration of marriage Divorces by number of dependent children Divorces by duration of marriage and age of husband and wife a. National projections b. Data obtained from population censuses 101

110 Annex 5. Vital events registration forms used in various countries Lesotho

111 BIRTH NOTIFICATION C 4561 (A) INFORMATION ABOUT PLACE OF BIRTH OF THE CHILD 1. DISTRICT. 2. VILLAGE NAME 4. NAME OF REPORTER (And surname) 6. ADDRESS OF THE REPORTER. 5. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CHILD.. (B) INFORMATION ABOUT THE CHILD 8. NAMES OF THE CHILD. 12. ADDRESS WHERE THE CHILD WAS BORN SEX OF THE CHILD 13. HOME ADDRESS OF THE CHILD CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PARENTS (The information provided here will be confidential and it is protected by the 1965 Statistics Act) 3. WARD/AREA CHIEF 7. PERSON FILLING THE FORM (Name). (Status in the village) (Date) 10. DATE OF BIRTH 11. IS THE CHILD A TWIN DAY.. MONTH YEAR NAMES OF THE FATHER 15. NATIONALITY 16. OCCUPATION 20. Age of the mother in completed years when the child was born. 21. Age of the father in completed years when the child was born 22. How many children does the woman have in all (a) Number of all children who were born alive.. (b) Number still living. Number born dead IF PARENTS ARE MARRIED MENTION 23. Month and year when marriage took place MONTH 24. Was the child s mother married more than once? YEAR 25. Is she in a polygamous marriage NAMES OF THE MOTHER 18. MAIDEN SURNAME 19.NATIONALITY (D) THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR FILLING THIS FORM 26. NAME OF VILLAGE CHIEF. DATE Signature of the District Registrar. 27. If this birth is one of multiple births, Registration Officer to state here the entry number(s) at which the other birth(s) is/are registered 29. Date Notification Received.. LIVE BIRTHS.. STILL BIRTHS 30. Date Birth Registered ENTRY NO.

112 DEATH NOTIFICATION D 3545 (A) INFORMATION ABOUT A PLACE WHERE DEATH OCCURED 1. DISTRICT. 2. VILLAGE NAME 4. NAME OF REPORTER (And surname) 6. ADDRESS OF THE REPORTER. 5. RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DECEASED.. 3. WARD/AREA CHIEF 7. PERSON FILLING THE FORM (Name). (Status in the village) (Date) (B) INFORMATION ABOUT THE DECEASED 8. NAMES OF THE DECEASED. 9. NATIONALITY OF THE DECEASED. 10. SEX OF THE DESEASED 15. CAUSE OF DEATH /ILLNESSES THAT CAUSED DEATH I (a). (b)..... II IF PHYSICIAN ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DEATH 11. AGE OF THE DESEASED 12. DATE OF DEATH 13. OCCUPATION Of THE DECEASED DAY MONTH YEAR HAS HE/SHE EVER WORKED IN THE MINES PLACE WHERE DEATH OCCURED (Village/Hospital) (Address) 17. PLACE OF RESIDENCE OF THE DECEASED (Village).. (Address).. (a) Cause of Death (b) Certified by.. (District). (District).. (C) THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR FILLING THIS FORM 18. NAME OF VILLAGE CHIEF. DATE Signature of the District Registrar. 20. Date Notification Received Date Birth Registered 104

113 DIVORCE DATA COLLECTION FORM CONFIDENTIAL Lesotho Government Case No. Name Sex Age Educational level Occupation Plaintiff Defendant Plaintiff Defenda nt Plaintiff Defenda nt Plaintiff Defendant Plaintiff Defendant 105

114 Type of Marriage Date of marriage Marriage Duration Date when Divorce was filed Parties domicile/residence in terms of District Date when Divorce was granted Reasons for Divorce Name of the Data collector Date 106

115 Mauritius Stillbirth:

116 Live birth: 108

117 Deaths: 109

118 Marriages: 110

119 Namibia 111

120 112

121 South Africa 113

122 114